The Joynes Reading Room
In 2002, Plan II received an unexpected bequest from alumna Mary Lu Joynes (class of ’58). To honor Dr. Joynes's love of literature, the Plan II Program collaborated with the Division of Housing and Food Service and the University Honors Center to create a browsing library and two seminar rooms in Carothers, an honors residence hall. Plan II faculty, staff, students and alumni contributed to the unique and truly collegiate environment of the Joynes Reading Room by suggesting books, décor, event programming and furnishings—former Plan II Director Paul Woodruff even built a large elliptical seminar table with help from two Plan II alumni.
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The Joynes suite has become a hub of student activity not only for Plan II, but for all UT honors programs. The seminar rooms are classrooms by day and meeting rooms by night, serving dozens of student organizations. The library space is a comfortable study lounge with a collection of more than 3000 carefully selected books and movies.
Student organizations that wish to request a meeting room in the Joynes Reading Room may do so by submitting the reservation request form here.
The Mary Lu Joynes endowment also supports a visiting lecture series. Each month, writers, artists and scholars come to the Joynes Reading Room to give public talks and to visit honors classes. The Joynes speaker series has included Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, bestselling memoirists, renowned poets, brilliant historians and globetrotting journalists. These speakers come to Austin from throughout the United States and abroad, expressly for the purpose of speaking in the Joynes Reading Room. All talks are free and open to the public.
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Current news on upcoming speakers in the Joynes Reading Room can be found in the Upcoming Speakers section or on the Joynes Reading Room Facebook page.
The elegant seminar rooms offer cutting edge technology and custom-built furniture. The elliptical table in the north room was designed and built by Dr. Paul Woodruff, Daniel Kievlan (Plan II, May 2006) and Matt Valentine (Plan II, May 2000). The rooms seat 20 people in comfort, and receive some natural light from clerestory windows opening on the Joynes Reading room. When the seminar rooms are not being used by classes, honors students may reserve them for extracurricular activities, club meetings, or group study sessions.
Questions? Contact Zack Schlosberg.
