Cheek Clark Building Naming

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA

Courage, Dignity, Passion – integral to university operations, leaders who helped to provide better working conditions.  This is the first building on campus named after African American staff from the university. 

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill re-named the original University Laundry building after Kennon Cheek and Rebecca Clark, two leaders among university employees who worked for better conditions for their fellow housekeepers in the 1930s and 1940s. These two, along with many others, were trailblazers not only on campus but in the Chapel Hill community. 

The exhibit includes panels introducing Cheek, Clark, and Hubbard; a timeline of the university’s housekeeping and facilities operations; and large-scale photographs celebrating the diversity within the current staff members. 

Design Dimension, Inc. was able to collaborate with university architects, the facilities team, historians, and the families representing Cheek and Clark. Together, we developed the exhibit text and framework, presented a full-scale mockup for the families to review, and finally fabricated and installed the permanent exhibit on site. Design Dimension is honored to have a part in sharing these stories and humbled to have the opportunity to work directly with the family and stakeholders.

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Those that attended the ribbon cutting ceremony included:

Sheri Hubbard and her grandson, her mother worked in Housekeeping

Aretha Hubbard, grand daughter to Bus Hubbard

Pat Jackson, Cheek relative

Doug Clark, Rebecca Clark relative

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