Students will be able to get a sneak peak of a newly renovated Morrill Hall after Spring Break during a grand opening celebration.

The new location of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and the Christian Petersen Art Museum will open on March 22, just a week after students return from break.

“The Christian Petersen Art Museum is completely new to Iowa State University,” said Jennifer Ohlerking, Christian Petersen Art Museum assistant. “It is the newest affiliate of University Museums – formerly comprised of the Brunnier Art Museum, the Farm House Museum and the Art on the Campus Collection.”

The museum will feature the Christian Petersen Art Collection, the Art on Campus Program, the University Museum’s Visual Literacy and Learning Program and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Program, Ohlerking said.

It is the nation’s first campus museum dedicated to campus public art and visual learning and literacy. Christian Petersen was chosen because he sculpted at Iowa State from 1934 to 1955 and was a faculty member from 1937 to 1955, Ohlerking said. He is the founding artist of the Art on Campus Collection and created a tradition of campus public art. One of his well-known works on campus is the Fountain of the Four Seasons located on the north side of the Memorial Union.

Morrill Hall is a fitting place for the new museum because it once housed the first museum at Iowa State. The original museum held items such as native species, monkeys, alligators and an aardvark – far different from the items that will be found in the new museum. Its central location on campus also appealed to University Museums.

“The Brunnier Art Museum, located in the Scheman Building, is less visible to those traveling around campus because it is not a building they walk by every day,” Ohlerking said. “We hope that students will seize the opportunity to visit the Christian Petersen Museum in between classes because it is located near the buildings where they attend class.”

The open house on March 22 will feature the exhibits Christian Petersen: Urban Artist, 1900 to 1934 and the Art Students League of New York: Highlights from the Permanent Collection. A soiree will take place on the night of March 22 and tickets are now available for the event. They can be purchased online at the University Museums’ Web site, www.museums.iastate.edu.

The second of three things to be housed in Morrill Hall is the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Most of CELT is currently located in the Lab of Mechanics and the Communications Building. The technology staff will remain located in the Communications Building, but the rest will be moving to Morrill Hall.

“We are delighted to have been included in the plans for the renovation of Morrill Hall,” said Corly Brooke, director of CELT and director of human development and family studies. “CELT has recently expanded its staff and services and will appreciate moving to more expansive and accessible facilities. By being located in Morrill Hall, CELT will be much more centrally located and faculty and staff will have much better access to our services.”

The new space for CELT will feature offices for the staff and learning communities, a library, conference room, workshop space and shared classroom space.

The final piece of Morrill Hall is the Center for Visual Learning in Textile and Clothing. The center will feature a museum gallery, conservation lab and storage facility – all for clothing collections.

“We’ve had textile and clothing collections for 75 to 80 years that have been gathering, but we’ve never had a display place for them,” said Grace Kunz, interim department chairwoman of apparel, education studies and hospitality management.

Currently professors can only show a few pieces at a time, but with a new 70-seat auditorium and storage facility, they will be able to show many pieces at once, Kunz said. Graduate students will also be able to use the facilities to conduct research such as fashion trends, cultural pieces, how the pieces are made, what they’re made from and how old they are. The public will also be able to view pieces in the museum gallery, which will be changed three to four times a year, she said.

Although students will have to wait until fall semester to utilize the new facilities, they will be able to see the museum gallery at the rededication, Kunz said. The official rededication of Morrill Hall – 116 years after being built – will be held April 20 as part of the Veishea and the Sesquicentennial celebration.

Fundraising for the Morrill Hall renovation began in 2002 and construction began in 2005. Other than a water problem, the construction has been going smoothly, said Robert Catus, construction project manager for Facilities Planning and Management. The only steps left are to move people in and complete outside landscaping when the weather gets better.

“The building was completely dilapidated when we started, and we’re looking forward to opening it and letting other people see it,” Catus said. “We’ve had rave reviews from the people who are moving in.”

The contractor for the project is Harold Pike Construction, 120 N. Sherman Ave., and the renovation cost will be approximately $10 million. Most of the money was raised through private donations.