If one travels north on 20th Avenue South in Nashville, the dome on the Wyatt Center—known to many alumni as the Social-Religious Building—comes into view. The building sits on the crest of a hill, so it should not be a surprise as it suddenly pops up amid the trees in this residential neighborhood. But this is a different view, and the perspective startles the viewer out of a GPS-induced complacency.
It is the ability to see issues and trends in education from new perspectives that has always differentiated Peabody from other schools of education. Even prior to rankings, Peabody was well-known for its faculty and researchers who could think “outside the box” and for training the next generation of educators by taking them out of the confines of a Peabody classroom and into the real world.
So, divested of its columns, steps and arched doors, seeing the dome outside of campus serves as a gentle reminder that a different perspective is a good thing.