By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer

Building a new home for the humanities on campus was always going to be a significant moment in the 95-year history of Providence College.

As it turned out, construction of the new 63,000-square-foot Ruane Center for the Humanities is also one of the largest and most significant building projects in the state during the slumbering local 2012 construction season.

The project, which Dimeo Construction Co. Inc. broke ground on last month, is expected to employ approximately 200 people in the building trades between now and its scheduled completion before the start of fall classes in 2013.

“From our perspective, we had Ocean House, FM Global, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, CVS and Brown [University] in the last four years and then it really hasn’t come back,” said Dimeo President Bradford Dimeo, about demand for new buildings. “We are fortunate in that we are working in and around Boston, Cambridge and New Haven right now. But we are thrilled to be working with PC on a building of this importance.”

Dimeo added that right now medical and educational institutions are producing some of the only new buildings in many areas.

When finished, the Ruane Center will house the departments of English and history, the School of Arts and Sciences and make up the primary teaching space for the Development of Western Civilization classes in the school’s core curriculum.

For years Western Civilization classes have been spread out between different buildings on the campus and the Ruane Center will bring them together and add teaching space so classes can be broken down into smaller sections for more individual attention.

Every Providence College student takes Western Civilization classes four days per week during their freshman and sophomore years, so the building will quickly become familiar to all students once it opens.