Morrill Hall is the first example of sustainable building on the Iowa State Campus. Restored at the request of President Gregory Geoffroy and funded by the generosity of over 3000 individuals, the building is a testament to the dedication of Iowa State alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends to the land grant heritage of the Iowa State campus.
Morrill Hall Campaign Co-chairs: Kathy and Greg Geoffroy & Lyle (’66) and Nancy Campbell
Morrill Hall is not only a historic landmark, but a visible reminder of the university’s land-grant heritage. Thanks to support from donors like, Lyle and Nancy Campbell, Iowa State University launched a successful campaign that has given new life to a campus icon.
Lyle and Nancy Campbell served as co-chairs for the campaign for Morrill Hall and are pleased that Morrill Hall will once again stand as a proud symbol of Iowa State’s roots as a land-grant university. Thanks to their generosity, the heritage and character of Morrill Hall will be preserved for future generations.
Lyle received his BS in agricultural business from Iowa State in 1966 and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1971. Lyle and Nancy chartered their first bank in central Illinois in 1973 and went on to establish a chain of community banks whose slogan is “We’re small. You’re big.” Lyle is a long time pilot and aviation enthusiast, and he and Nancy enjoy traveling extensively. They have six children, fourteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Inside and out, materials were selected to reflect the sustainability goals of the project. The roof has shingles that are manufactured out of recycled rubber and look like the original slate that graced the building – at less than half the weight of the original.
Bamboo flooring was installed in the gallery spaces. It is rapidly renewable – it grows and matures quickly – and provides a durable surface for these high traffic areas.
In 2007, Iowa State University will apply for a United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The process of getting LEED certified involves close examination of the project in the following areas:
• Sustainability of the building site
• Water efficiency
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources used
• Indoor environmental quality
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is a community of leaders working to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated. They envision an environmentally responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. USGBC's members, representing every sector of the building industry, developed and continue to refine LEED®.
LEED® was created to:
• Define "green building" by establishing a common standard of measurement
• Promote integrated, whole-building design practices
• Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
• Stimulate green competition
• Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
• Transform the building market
LEED® provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED® emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED® recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources.
Morrill Hall represents ISU’s land grant heritage and is known to ISU alumni throughout the world. We are proud of this historic landmark. Please take a few moments to explore all that Morrill Hall was and has become.
Morrill Hall, one of the earliest buildings on the Iowa State University campus (1891) was named in honor of Vermont Senator, Justin Morrill. Morrill sponsored the bill establishing the land-grant college system, the Morrill Act (1862). Iowa was the first state in the nation to accept the tenets of the Morrill Act.
Morrill Hall has served the Iowa State campus community in many ways throughout its history. Among its tenants: the university chapel, university library, the zoology museum, academic departments, classrooms, and laboratories for music, zoology, entomology, and geology, the armory, dining and living space for students, and offices for Extension and University Relations. But most importantly, Morrill Hall represents the democratic land-grant ideal of education, openness, accessibility and service to the American people.
The restoration of Morrill Hall took two years and was completed in March of 2007. The restoration project has been a wonderful way to preserve the past and provide a modern space for the future students of Iowa State.
Morrill Hall now houses three main programs.
• Christian Peterson Art Museum and Art on Campus Program
• Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing
• Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
One of the reasons for building Morrill Hall was to provide space for a museum, which consisted of natural history specimens such as an aardvark, an alligator, and monkeys.
Morrill housed the library on campus from the time it was built in 1891 until 1914, when the library was moved to Beardshear Hall. The Agricultural Extension offices and document room were moved into Morrill Hall. This room was located on the first floor of the building, south of the central stairway.
Although the two foremost reasons for building Morrill Hall were to house a museum and a library, a chapel was quickly added to the list.
Daily chapel was held in Morrill Hall at 7:45 Monday through Friday until 1918. Sunday chapel, which was held in Curtiss Auditorium at 11:00, was continued by Iowa State’s Chaplain, Dr. O.H. Cessna, until his retirement in 1929. By 1910, conditions had become so crowded that the Chapel was being used for class work. The Music Department used the Chapel as a choir room until the new Music Hall was completed in 1980. The organ was donated to a local church and was in use until very recent years.
During the initial years of the college, the only buildings on campus were those that made up the Model Farm (including the Farm House) and Old Main. Two years after the college opened there came a need for a building to house a library and museum. Funding was approved twenty years later and Morrill Hall was constructed at a cost of $28,739, being dedicated on June 16th, 1891.
The building was named for Justin Smith Morrill, who had sponsored the bill establishing the Land-Grant College system.
In addition to the museum, library, and chapel, Morrill Hall housed the armory and laboratory and classrooms for the Department of Zoology, Entomology, and Geology
The libraryand museum spaces were eventually remodeled into student living quarters. Morrill Hall continued to serve its original purpose for a number of years, but by 1910, the Zoology Department was requesting new space. Soon after that, conditions had become so crowded that the Chapel was being used for class work, and additional laboratories had to be set up in the basement.
In 1914, the Library was moved to Beardshear Hall, and the Agricultural Extension Offices and Document Room were moved to Morrill Hall. The Zoology Department moved out when Science Building #1 was completed in 1916. Though Extension was the longest-term tenant in Morrill Hall, a number of other departments also shared the building.
The Music Department used the Chapel as a choir room until the new Music Hall was completed in 1980. The Publications Office was in Morrill from 1937 until it was closed in 1993. Information Service (now University Relations) and Photo Service shared the building until 1996, when they moved to the Communications Building. Extension was the last department to leave the building, moving out in 1998.
Throughout the restoration great care was taken to preserve the unique architectural details of the building while at the same time improving the livability and functionality.
The original slate shingles on the roof were replaced with recycled rubber shingles that remain true to the historic look of the building without adding all the weight of actual slate tiles
Morrill Hall has some interesting new features. New dormer on the west side allows natural daylight into the CELT suite, reducing the amount of electricity needed for artificial lighting. In addition, a new front entry that has stairs on both sides prevents traffic jams from occurring on the busy sidewalk.
- Include the “New dormer west side.jpg” image in the content\images\construction folder and the “front entry NOV 06.jpg” image from the content\images\construction folder here.
In order to accommodate the new mechanical system needed for the building, the floor in the basement level was lowered by 5 feet. New foundations were installed under the existing walls from the outside and then the interior was excavated and over 1,500 cubic yards of dirt were removed from the basement.
The original building held over 20 styles of brick used in the exterior. From very simple rectangular brick to ornately carved brick that form interlocking patterns. The original brick was hand-formed and carved at a foundry along the Skunk River south of Ames. The replacement brick used in the renovation was made in South Carolina using similar techniques.
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) works to advance the academic mission of Iowa State University by enhancing teaching effectiveness and student learning and success at the University and beyond. CELT provides programs, consultation, and resources to:
• Foster the professional and intellectual development of educators.
• Develop, implement, and assess instructional methods to enhance student learning.
• Inspire innovations and advocate the effective use of technology in university teaching.
• Nurture communities dedicated to enhancing learning and student engagement.
• Promote an institutional culture that values and advances teaching and learning theory and practice.
A center for the enhancement of learning and teaching was first established in the Provost Office by the Iowa State University Faculty Senate in 1993. Originally known as the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), the center was reorganized and expanded into the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) in 2004. This name change reflects not only a strong emphasis on enhancement of student learning but also the added components of the Center’s work: Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), Learning Technologies, and increased emphasis on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
CELT Preparing Future Faculty program provides seminars, mentoring, and practical experiences to better prepare graduate students for faculty careers.
CELT offers Learning Technologies workshops, seminars, instructional design consultation, and development of and support for university-wide e-learning systems.
CELT sponsors participation in retreats and conferences and administers a variety of teaching and learning-centered fellowships, grants, and awards.
The Christian Petersen Art Museum is named for the nation’s first permanent campus artist-in-residence, Christian Petersen, who sculpted at Iowa State from 1934 through 1955, and is considered the founding artist of the Art on Campus Collection. Petersen was on the Iowa State faculty from 1937 through 1955.
An affiliate of University Museums, the Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall is the home of the Christian Petersen Art Collection, the Art on Campus Program, the University Museums’ Visual Literacy and Learning Program, and Contemporary Changing Art Exhibitions Program.
Located within the Christian Petersen Art Museum are the Lyle and Nancy Campbell Art Gallery, the Roy and Bobbi Reiman Public Art Studio Gallery, the Margaret Davidson Center for the Study of the Art on Campus Collection, the Edith D. and Torsten E. Lagerstrom Loaned Collections Center, and the Neva M. Petersen Visual Learning Gallery. University Museums shares the James R. and Barbara R. Palmer Small Objects Classroom in Morrill Hall.
Department of Apparel, Educational Studies, and Hospitality Management
College of Human Sciences
Museum facilities include the Textiles and Clothing Collection Storage, the Mary Alice Anderson Reinhart Gallery, and the Textiles and Clothing Conservation Lab.
The clothing and textiles collection consists of about 7,500 pieces from around the world. Some of the oldest items are from the early 1800s.The estimated value of the collection, begun by an Iowa State faculty member Olive Settles in 1923, is from $1 million to $3 million. Items from the collection are used in many textiles and clothing courses. Professors say student learning is greatly enhanced when students can see and touch collection pieces.
The Conservation lab The conservation lab promises to be a busy place, drawing Iowa State students as well as professionals who need training or well-equipped facilities in which to do research. In the lab, students might collaborate to develop a new synthetic fiber. Museum staffs might learn how to preserve textile artifacts. Or international visitors might develop a process to make textile dyes