McDaniel College’s newest buildings, Academic Hall and the Leroy Merritt Fitness Center and Klitzberg Pavilion, were honored with architectural and masonry awards.

The Masonry Institute of Maryland, Inc., recognized the Merritt Fitness Center for its exceptional masonry design and detailing. The building, created with a dramatic glass curtain wall, was designed as a campus showcase that provides a community gathering space and a place where today's health-conscious students can work out and unwind. The Klitzberg Pavilion features a multi-media Sports Hall of Fame and sports archive displays, as well as a food court and media center.

Academic Hall was recognized by Construction Communications as one of the top projects in the Eastern Seaboard. The 46,000-square-foot building is home to the departments of Education and Psychology, Graduate and Professional Studies, and Student Academic Support Services. The facility was also designed to house McDaniel's Deaf Education Department. The building is equipped with American Sign Language (ASL) and English labs that will make it the only facility and program of its type in the eastern U.S. and one of only two in the nation. Classrooms were designed for "in the round" instruction and corridors were provided with wide common areas as key junctions to facilitate ASL communication.