Mosaic by Ben Shahn in the lobby of the Nicholas Hobbs Laboratory of Human Development
May 29, 1965 - Convocation.
March 31, 1968 - Dedication of the Human Development Laboratory and the Mental Retardation Laboratory (approximately 60,000 square feet per building).
January 14, 1983 - Human Development Laboratory was rededicated as the Nicholas Hobbs Laboratory of Human Development in honor of Nicholas Hobbs, the Center's founding director.
2001 - Center became a university-wide interdisciplinary research center.
2005 - University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disablities established.
Provided by the National Institutes of Health, under Public Law 88-164 Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963, with matching funds from George Peabody College for Teachers and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation.
The mosaic located in the lobby of Hobbs Laboratory was designed by the American artist Ben Shahn and was the gift of alumni, faculty members, and friends. The dedication was held October 5, 1969. The original painting of the mosaic, which now resides in the Vatican Museum, was done by Shahn, and the mosaic was then executed by an experienced craftsman, Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France. The panels were made in France and shipped to Nashville, where they were installed under the direction of Antonio di Valentin. Center co-founder Dr. Susan Gray led the effort to obtain the Shahn mosaic.
Quotation selected by Shahn to appear on the mosaic captures the Kennedy Center's abiding emphasis on never losing sight of the whole even while understanding the parts. "So many are the links on which, if one be loose or weak, the whole chain is in danger of being dissolved; it is begun with the hands and eyes, and to proceed on through the memory, to be continued by the reason; nor is it to stop there but to come to the eyes and hands again..."
Robert Hooke, 1665
Located in the lobby of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center/MRL Building, the sculpture is by Robert Berks.
This sculpture by the late artist Kate Blackman Haven, located in front of the Hobbs Laboratory, depicts four children at play who are beckoning an isolated fifth child to join them. It was inspired by Nicholas Hobbs's pioneering Re-ED philosophy for treating emotionally disturbed children. Friends of Nicholas Hobbs funded the sculpture in his memory. A presentation ceremony was held October 21, 1984.
"To grow,
Cultivate the art of precipitating yourself
Into just manageable difficulties of your own choosing--
In the direction you want to become."
Nicholas Hobbs
For information on the Center's history and archives, contact Jan Rosemergy, (615) 322-8240.