McMahan Hall
In Fall, 2009, we began occupying Mary B. McMahan Hall with rehearsals, classes, lectures, faculty teaching and student practicing. With the final touches complete (including landscape elements (beautiful palm trees and foliage along Woodland Blvd. and Michigan Ave.) and finished interior touches like the acoustical treatments in the HUGE rehearsal hall), the space is a beautiful and functional addition to the music facilities on Stetson's campus. The finished building houses four faculty offices, the percussion studio and practice facilities, and Feasel Rehearsal Hall (named by Lenvil Dicks in honor of Stetson mentor Richard Feasel)--a wonderful, acoustically-tuned rehearsal hall built to accommodate our symphonic band, orchestra, and 200-member community choir (the Choral Union).
The funding for McMahan Hall has been established by a number of significant gifts to Stetson and the School of Music, with key funding from Dick and Mary McMahan. These generous gifts provide opportunity for Stetson, the faculty in the School of Music, and the music students for years to come. We hope that you will consider joining us as we continue to improve the learning experience for music students at Stetson, including the renovation of Presser Hall and increase scholarship opportunities. If you are interest in being part of Stetson's School of Music through a generous donation, by being a patron of one of many available naming opportunities, or by becoming a member of the "Friends of Music" at Stetson, please contact Dr. Jean West, Dean at 386.822.8960.
DICK AND MARY BLOUNT MCMAHAN of DeLand made the lead gift for Stetson University's Mary B. McMahan Hall. Together, the McMahans long supported Stetson and enjoyed many concerts, recitals and operas offered by the School of Music. She is a member of the School of Music Board of Advisors, and a former member of the DeLand Planning Board and the Cultural Arts Center Board. Before his death in early 2011, Dick McMahan served on the university's Board of Trustees.
An investor and developer, Dick McMahan had said he wanted the gift to honor his wife and to say "thank you" to former School of Music Dean Jim Woodward and former President Doug and First Lady Margaret Lee. Dean Woodward retired May 31, 2007, and President Lee retired in 2009. He died after an unexpected illness a few months later.
"We love music, and Stetson is a major force in the DeLand community--socially, economically and politically," Dick McMahan had said. "It's a beautiful little building, right in the heart of campus, and I'm proud to honor my wife in this way."
Ground breaking ceremony for McMahan Hall (April 24, 2007)
While an impressive "stand alone" building, McMahan Hall has been designed to directly join with the future Performance Center, thereby becoming both an expansion of the spaces in Presser Hall and an important feature in what will eventually become a three-part music campus as Presser, McMahan, and the future performance center are integrated into the School of Music.
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb--some text excerpted from the Schenkel Shultz Architechture proposal