Editing Cathedral of Learning (section)

===Braun Room===
[[Image:CoL Braun Room.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The Braun Room in the Cathedral of Learning]]
Following the opening of the Cathedral of Learning, the offices of the Dean of Women moved to the 12th floor of the Cathedral in 1938. The interior was unfinished but Dean [[Thyrsa Amos]] envisioned a dignified and beautiful space for women to meet.

When Dean Amos died in 1941, the new quarters were still unfinished. The Alumnae Association created the Thyrsa W. Amos Fund to plaster the walls and to furnish Room 1217 in her name. Room 1217 was never finished, but after World War II the other rooms on the twelfth floor were completed including room 1201, now known as the Braun Room. Mrs. A. E. Braun donated the furnishings and floral carved [[mahogany]] wood paneling which she had purchased in 1941 from the library of the home of Grant McCargo in the East End of Pittsburgh. The Braun Room was dedicated in 1946 and serves, along with its furniture, as an example of a modern reproduction of [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] design. Original blue carpeting was replaced in 1955 with a Persian rug, named "The Iron Rug of Persia", that was donated by the daughter and son-in-law of A. E. Braun. Restored in 2015, the rug was made for a regional [[Khan (title)|Khan]] in the northern part of Iran around 1810.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Fall%202015%20%28Newsletter%29%20Nov%2010_0.pdf|title=Nationality Rooms Program Activities|first=Maryann|last=Sivak|journal=Nationality Rooms Newsletter|date=Fall 2015|volume=98|page=7|access-date=November 15, 2015}}</ref> Other features of the room include a low bookcase, bordered and topped with classic carving, that was crafted by university carpenters to replace the original fireplace whose inclusion was impractical on the 12th floor, along with two crystal drop chandeliers.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.pfaffmann.com/documents/PittCivicCenterConservation%20Plan_2006.pdf | title=University of Pittsburgh Civic Center Conservation Plan | date=September 2005 | page=63 | last=Pfaffmann | first=Rob | publisher=Pfaffmann + Associates, PC and the Getty Foundation Campus Heritage Program | access-date=January 27, 2010}}</ref>

Dean Helen Pool Rush and her successor, Dean Savina Skewis, carried on the traditions of Dean Amos until the Dean of Women's Office was closed in 1969, and its functions and quarters were assumed by other departments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.provost.pitt.edu/whistory/twelfth/twelfth.html|title=The Twelfth Floor|work=The History of Women at Pitt|publisher=Office of the Provost, [[University of Pittsburgh]]|access-date=August 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320071425/http://www.provost.pitt.edu/whistory/twelfth/twelfth.html|archive-date=March 20, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Braun Room is used for meetings and study abroad scholarship selection panels.