James Moeser, the former dean of the School of Fine Arts at Kansas University and the current chancellor of the University of North Carolina, addresses about 170 people during the rededication of Murphy Hall on the building's 50th anniversary.

A good building can facilitate good art, according to James Moeser, the man largely responsible for the expansion of the School of Fine Arts in Murphy Hall at Kansas University.

Moeser, who was dean of the School of Fine Arts from 1975 to 1985, spoke to about 170 people at a dinner in Murphy Hall as part of the building’s 50th anniversary rededication ceremony Saturday, 50 years to the day after its original dedication.

Though the building was the cause for celebration, it wasn’t the focus.

“The significance is not the physical structure but what takes place in it,” said Moeser, who is now the chancellor at the University of North Carolina.

As the school’s dean and as a former music faculty member, he said he was convinced the School of Fine Arts needed a base to grow. Art, in its many forms, helps the formation of the human spirit, he said.

He campaigned locally and statewide for support for the school’s expansion and continuously heckled former Chancellor Gene Budig for an expansion of Murphy Hall. He formed the first School of Fine Arts administrative board, which he said helped lay the groundwork for fundraising.

Before the original building was constructed and dedicated Nov. 10, 1957, performances were housed at various locations across campus. Recent expansions were added in 1999 and 2001.

Larry Mallett, chairman of the department of music and dance, said Moeser was an influential dean for establishing a unified curriculum in the school, which includes three academic departments: art, design, and music and dance.

Moeser said Murphy Hall exists today because of faculty including Franklin D. Murphy, former KU chancellor, Kansans who have supported it and the students who walk its halls every day.

One music student, Steven Elliott, a KU junior from Abilene who hopes to become a music educator, helped chronicle the history of Murphy Hall for anniversary events.

“Looking at pictures reminds me that the great music education I’m getting now has been quite some time in the making,” Elliott said.

Saturday’s event also included guest lectures, and Mallet said after the ceremony about 150 people were heading to the performance of “The Music Man,” a musical that premiered on Broadway in 1957. More anniversary events are scheduled for April.