NDSU is building a new chemistry and geoscience building on campus
North Dakota State University is constructing a new building on campus called Sugihara Hall. The new hall is on the corner of Centennial Blvd. and Albrecht Blvd. and is set to be open for the spring semester of 2022. The Hall will provide studying space for students, laboratories and classrooms.
Sugihara Hall will be the main location for the Chemistry and Geoscience departments. The building will include teaching classrooms and labs, student spaces, graduate student offices, faculty research offices, as well as multiple storage areas. According to Michael Ellingson, the Facilities Management Director on campus, “the teaching spaces are more spacious and designed to accommodate the support material needed for classes.”
The $51.2 million dollar building will grant more space to students to study and more office space for faculty and instructors. NDSU will begin moving into the building starting in Nov. to get spaces ready for students by the start of the next semester.
The hall is named after James M. Sugihara, a former faculty member at NDSU. James Sugihara was the Dean of NDSU’s College of Chemistry. He was also the Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and the Dean of Graduate School. “He was an internationally recognized research scientist,” said Ellingson.
Sugihara retired in 1989, given emeritus status and went on to achieve an honorary doctorate. The Chemistry department also awards academically advanced freshman students through the James and May Sugihara Scholarship. Sugihara died in Nov. 2019 at the age of 101.
Sugihara Hall, a 107,500 square foot building, will stand in the center of campus and provide learning spaces for students and faculty. “The building has large windows that allow for much more natural light which is conducive to better learning,” said Ellingson. The instructors offices will also be close together allowing students to more easily find their teachers. The research labs will also be more spacious than the current space and allow for more equipment storage.
The construction on campus will be ongoing as NDSU is continuing next spring. After Sugihara Hall is completed, campus is continuing advancements with the demolition of Dunbar Hall. Next Feb., NDSU will start to tear down Dunbar Hall and add skywalks from Sugihara. “With connections to Memorial Union and Ladd Hall, the site of former Dunbar Hall will be transformed into a connective plaza in the heart of campus,” states BWBR.
According to BWBR, “the new facility pairs advanced laboratory and research spaces with cross-departmental and campus connections to bridge academic interests and spur innovations with relevant research opportunities.”