More computers, bigger classrooms, study areas and room for seminars will be additional features in the new Honors Program building.

Osborn Cottage, home of the Honors Program, eventually will be torn down as a new building north of Curtiss Hall and south of Horticulture Hall is erected to replace it.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to build a new building,” said Elizabeth Beck, Honors Program coordinator.

The announcement for the new building was made in September of 1998 by ISU President Martin Jischke and was approved last month by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa.

The projected completion date for the $2 million building is set for March 2001, Beck said. The building will be funded by private contributions.

Beck said the new building was necessary because Osborn Cottage isn’t sufficient for the students who use it.

“We teach three classes an hour,” she said. “Our current building doesn’t serve the needs of our students.”

When Osborn Cottage was built in 1977, the Honors Program involved 283 students. This year, the program is 1,350 students strong, including full members, associate members and freshman honors students.

“The more space will be helpful because I have a sense that the Honors Program is getting bigger,” said Corinn Brockman, honors freshman in microbiology and pre-vet.

The new building will provide honors students with more classrooms, a larger computer lab, room for topical and freshmen seminars, more offices and area to bring prospective students and family members.

“Right now, we don’t even have space to show Powerpoints or overheads,” Beck said.

Carrie Seim, one of the student representatives on the honors building committee, said students wanted project rooms, a quiet study area, a kitchen and room for group studies.

“Osborn has a home-like, cottage feel to it,” said Seim, senior in journalism and mass communication. “The students want to make it a community as well as a learning environment.”

Smith Metzger Architects of Des Moines is in charge of designing the building, but no definite layout plans are set, Beck said. The organizers have visited two honors buildings in the Midwest and are comparing them to decide how to construct ISU’s new building.

“We have excellent ideas of what we want to happen and don’t,” Beck said. “We saw one building that was very creative and had good use of space, and the other had some problems.”

As long as the building is a comfortable place to be, students will enjoy it, Seim said.

“We’re looking for the new building to be a home on campus like Osborn is,” she said.