With the main fund-raising goal met, ISU administrators have started to prepare Morrill Hall for renovations.

Construction crews are removing asbestos and lead-based paint in preparation for the renovations. The job should be finished by March 10, when the bidding for contractors opens, said Kerry Dixon-Fox, project manager for facilities planning and management.

Since its conception, the building has been used, among other things, as a museum, library and chapel. When completed, the renovated building will have many similarities with the old building.

“We are doing pretty much a restoration of the exterior and an adoptive re-use of the interior,” Dixon-Fox said. “It will look, hopefully, as good as when it was built.”

Some changes will be made to the exterior because of accessibility issues. The former second-floor chapel will be changed into the Christian Petersen Art Museum, which will feature contemporary art. Three general use classrooms will also be on the floor.

The renovated building will also house the Center for Excellence in Learning, which will provide space for instructors to compare teaching styles and classroom technology use. The Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing will include a gallery, lab for textile restoration and conservation, and storage facilities for the collection, according to the ISU Web site.

The renovation is expected to be completed at the end of the 2006 fall semester and will be open to the public, not just students.

“This should be a draw for all of campus as well as the community,” Dixon-Fox said.

The building was slated for renovation rather than demolition in 2003 because it would help maintain the look of campus, said ISU Foundation President and CEO Dan Saftig.

To reach the $9 million dollar goal to complete the renovation, the ISU Foundation called alumni, students, faculty and friends of the university and asked each for a pledge to help save the 115-year-old building.

After the year and a half of fundraising, the goal was met in October 2004. Private donors contributed $7.4 million of the goal, and the Iowa Legislature donated $850,000 specifically for two general use classrooms. The remaining $750,000 was directed from Iowa State’s building repair fund.