Memorial Hall is the New Heart of BSU’s Campus | News

This lower-level concourse is lined by faculty offices, giving students easy access to instructors and promoting learning outside the classroom.

New front steps and large glass windows grace the building’s west entrance, facing Birchmont Drive.

The original flooring from Memorial Hall’s first life as a gymnasium is visible in this hallway, as are the red pine bleachers, which have been turned into horizontal paneling.

Shown when the project was nearing completion in late November, a new rear stairway and elevator are in a glass atrium overlooking Lake Bemidji and a newly expanded Central Plaza between the Upper and Lower Hobson Memorial Union.

Multiple video screens and flexible seating make this new active-learning classroom on the first floor of Memorial Hall highly adaptable to different teaching needs and group project work.

Students use a group study area on the first floor.

BSU photographer John Swartz captured this Monarch butterfly visiting Memorial Hall during construction.

Opened in August as the new home for the business administration and accounting programs and officially unveiled at Homecoming, Bemidji State University’s remodeled Memorial Hall is a new star attraction.

The 75-year-old building, built as a gymnasium and for many years used for large gatherings, has been reborn as a state-of-the-art learning center that links the main Birchmont Drive corridor to a newly expanded Central Plaza ringed by the Upper and Lower Hobson Memorial Union, Sattgast Hall and A.C. Clark Library. A spacious lawn and intersecting sidewalks where Sanford Hall once stood is now the Sanford Quad.

The project, which began in September 2014, was made possible by $13.79 million in bonds approved by the Minnesota Legislature, with strong support from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, Bemidji-area legislators and local officials. The money also financed renovation of Decker Hall as a new hub for student services.

“One thing that is clear to me is that the leaders of this community have rallied around Bemidji State,” President Richard Hanson said at the ceremony on Oct. 2. “I think we’re on our way, not just in terms of the College of Business, Technology and Communications, but in our other colleges and programs as well. It’s time to shine a light and encourage the teaching and learning that develops students every day.”

BSUMv32n02-Memorial-PQ-Kittleson Dr. Shawn Strong, dean of BSU’s College of Business, Technology and Communication, and BSU students Lisa Kittleson, a senior marketing communication major from Young America, Minn., and Marie Schwinghammer, a senior accounting major from Bemidji, also spoke to those gathered in front of the front steps.

“Although this building is one of the oldest on campus, it is now the most technically advanced,” Strong said, pointing out its active-learning classrooms, community learning spaces, video conferencing capabilities and computer connectivity. “Ultimately, these features, both in terms of design and technology, are all focused on student learning.”

Strong also said the new building has been designed to meet LEED certification, using 20 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than conventional buildings.

“The new Memorial Hall is everything I hoped it would be,” Kittleson said. “When I proudly point out this building on tours as a University Ambassador, I always emphasize how it maintains a connection to the past as well as providing a completely modern atmosphere.”