Discuss “The Lost Campus”

On Friday, Carnegie Mellon University and its department of civil and environmental engineering held a ceremony at Porter Hall to commemorate the building’s centennial. It was an unusual acknowledgment of campus history, but it was appropriate, considering Porter is the first building on campus to pass the century mark.

The ceremony was a mix of historical recognition and Disney World-style showmanship. After a reception in a civil engineering department lab, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at Porter’s Frew Street entrance, with remarks from University president Jared Cohon, H&SS dean John P. Lehoczky, and professor Pradeep Khosla of electrical and computer engineering. The crowd, consisting mostly of civil engineering students,...