After years of planning, the first stage of Iowa State’s largest-ever building project, Howe Hall, will be dedicated on Saturday.

Engineering Dean James Melsa said the dedication will begin with a ceremony at 10 a.m. featuring remarks by himself, ISU President Martin Jischke, Board of Regents President Owen Newlin, ISU Foundation President Tom Mitchell, Engineering Student Council President Ben Golding and either Stan or Helen Howe, the couple for whom the hall is named.

After the Iowa State-Colorado football game in the afternoon, festivities will continue with the black-tie Millennium Ball in the atrium of Howe Hall.

“It sounds like a fun way to end this weekend,” Melsa said.

The Millennium Ball was conceived by students, said Pam Reinig, engineering communications manager, and its popularity has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Tickets for the ball were sold out earlier this week.

Reinig attributed much of the success to the work of the students.

“They have done a tremendous job planning the details of this event,” she said.

Reinig said students will probably comprise 60 percent of the ball’s attendees, which is important because Howe Hall, Phase One of the $61 million Engineering Teaching and Research Complex [ERTC], is designed for the students.

“It will be a great opportunity for students, faculty and staff and alumni to interact in a social setting,” Melsa said.

Melsa said this dance will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because the atrium of Howe Hall will soon be partially occupied by the new virtual reality center, and there would not be room for the 1,000 attendees.

The Millennium Ball will begin at 8 p.m. with an alcohol-free social hour, followed by a short presentation at 8:45 p.m., then dancing to the live music of the Prairie Cats at 9 p.m. Swing lessons will be held throughout the evening.

The ball is sponsored by the College of Engineering, the Engineering Student Council, the ISU Foundation, the Lincoln Center Hy-Vee and Milroy’s Formal Wear of Ames.

The opening of Howe Hall nearly completes the first phase of the ETRC, and Phase Two will be the construction of Gary and Donna Hoover Hall, which still is in the planning stages.