Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

November 21, 2003

Morrill Hall donor list approaches 1,500 names

Nearly $5.5 million has been raised in a $9 million campaign to remodel Morrill Hall. The donor list contains 1,493 names, including 260 faculty or staff members.

Earlier this month, the ISU Foundation received a $500,000 gift. Details about the donor haven't been announced publicly yet. The donor list also includes 464 ISU students, 56 of whose gifts are $250 or more.

As fund-raising continues, so does architectural planning for the building. The RDG Bussard Dikis architecture firm was hired this summer and has been working with a campus planning committee, and with input from Morrill's proposed tenants, on a schematic design of the interior space. The goal is to present the schematic design to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, for approval in February.

Of the project's estimated $9 million cost, $8.15 million will come in private gifts. The remaining $850,000 will come from a four-year, multi-million dollar state appropriation to upgrade ISU classrooms and pay for two general university classrooms and a seminar room in Morrill Hall.

The proposed tenants are the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Christian Petersen Art Museum and the Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing.

Completed in 1891, Morrill Hall has stood empty since 1996.