Saturday marks a celebration of a College of Engineering project that has been in the works since the 1980s.

Hoover Hall, phase II of the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex, will be dedicated to 1961 ISU alumnus and donor Gary Hoover and his wife Donna at 2 p.m. Saturday in the hall’s Kent-Stein Auditorium.

The Engineering Teaching and Research Complex is a two-building complex made up of Hoover and Howe Halls. The project is focused on enhancing student learning through technology and research.

Saturday’s ceremony signifies not only the completion of Hoover Hall, but also the completion of the entire Engineering Teaching and Research Complex project. Howe Hall was dedicated to Stanley and Helen Howe Oct. 23, 1999.

David Holger, associate dean of engineering academic programs and budgets, said the idea for a facility like the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex was generated a few decades ago.

“The grand idea behind [the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex] was to bring together in that complex — in a symbolic way — the elements of teaching, learning, scholarship, research and outreach missions,” Holger said.

Hoover Hall houses four new university classrooms, multidisciplinary laboratories, the Department of Materials and Sciences Engineering and the offices of the Engineering Computing Support Services.

The building also boasts the 400-seat Kent-Stein Auditorium, which is the largest auditorium on campus other than the Iowa State Center’s CY Stephens Auditorium, said James Melsa, dean of the College of Engineering.

For Meagen Marquardt, graduate student in materials and science engineering, more space is the best benefit of the new engineering complex. Marquardt said department labs are currently squeezed in with the chemical engineering department in Gilman Hall.

“I think we’ve really had to deal with limited space,” she said. “The [materials and science engineering] department is growing and we’d really be feeling the growing pains.”

The department will benefit from its new location in Hoover Hall, Marquardt said.

“It’s a better position in relating to the College of Engineering as a whole … it brings all of us together,” she said.

Melsa said the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex is the “largest capital project ever undertaken by the university.” The total cost of the complex was approximately $70 million.

“We think engineering is one of the key elements of this university’s activities,” Melsa said. “It is a signature program … and the strength of engineering is absolutely essential.”

Holger said more than half of the funding for the Engineering Teaching and Research Complex project came from money contributed by donors and not by the state.

“This facility wouldn’t have happened without alumni and friends,” Holger said. “This is a really good example of the effective partnership of the university, the state of Iowa, donors and friends.”