Troxel Hall, a new building in the works dedicated primarily to sciences, will be ready for classes during the fall 2012 semester.

The building is named after Douglas Troxel, whose nonprofit foundation donated $5 million to the project.

Troxel graduated in 1967 with a degree in mathematics and is the chairman emeritus of SERENA Software, which Troxel himself founded in 1980.

He is also CEO of the Change Happens Foundation, the nonprofit corporation responsible for the donation.

Troxel Hall will feature a state-of-the-art 400-seat auditorium primarily for large introductory courses, including sciences, economics, psychology, statistics and anthropology.

The hall will have resources and equipment including overhead projectors and projection screens, data projectors and monitors, video playback, document cameras, audio systems, access to both the campus network and the Internet and other new classroom technology.

“The more modern equipment will greatly help with teaching the large lectures that nearly every student will have to attend during their ISU career,” said Michael Whiteford, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “The level of technology is advancing more and more frequently, and we want students to have the best quality educational experience as possible.”

Whiteford said nearly every LAS department will benefit from the recent addition of Hach Hall, dedicated to chemistry, and the future addition of Troxel Hall.

“While Hach Hall and Troxel Hall are primarily for sciences, nearly all other departments will get something from this,” Whiteford said. “For example, Gilman Hall is in the process of being partially vacated. There are many large and now-abandoned labs in that building that are going to be renovated to function as additional classrooms for other LAS departments.”

Troxel Hall is to be constructed east of Horticulture Hall and north of the Farm House Museum.