Once it is completed in early 2014, the bright, sun-filled atrium in the newly renovated Weston A. Bousfield Psychology Building will be named for longtime UConn professor and department head Charles A. “Skip” Lowe, following a vote by the Board of Trustees on April 25.

Lowe has been a faculty member in the psychology department for 41 years and served as department chair for 13.

“Skip Lowe is a model for faculty everywhere,” said Francis Archambault Jr., a trustee. “He is a recognized scholar and an award-winning teacher who has also willingly, gladly, and tirelessly served on numerous university and professional committees. He is a highly intelligent and wise man whose vision and leadership has helped make the university he loves a better place for us all.

“I have known Skip for over 30 years, and I am proud to call him a friend,” Archambault added. “I am also delighted that his many contributions to UConn are being recognized in this way. Rentschler Field is called ‘The Rent;’ I won’t be surprised if, by popular acclaim, the atrium in the new Psychology Building is known as ‘The Skip’.”

The board previously approved the renovation and expansion of the building, which was originally constructed in 1974 and has become too small to accommodate psychology students and faculty, as the program has grown to become one of the top undergraduate majors. The work will expand the building by 30,000 square feet, adding shared research space, large seminar rooms, and the atrium.