Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie and IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie recently donned hard hats and took a tour of Luddy Hall and Goodbody and Memorial halls, which are within Wells Quad.
Tom Morrison, vice president for capital planning and facilities, and Jim Stewart, assistant vice president for capital planning and facilities, led them on the tour of the three buildings under construction, which will be completed in 2017.
Strengthening IU’s infrastructure and building for the future are two of the president’s key inaugural initiatives. Building and renovating facilities on all campuses improves IU’s ability to achieve its missions of providing an excellent education and pursuing world-class research.
Construction is underway at Luddy Hall, the future home of the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing on the IU Bloomington campus. President McRobbie's tour of Luddy Hall showed progress on the $39.8 million, 124,000-square-foot building that will accommodate the rapid growth of students, faculty and programs at the school. Over the past eight years, undergraduate enrollment and research funding have tripled at the IU School of Informatics and Computing, with informatics now the third-largest undergraduate major on campus. Photos by James Brosher
IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie checks out the stunning view of the IU Bloomington campus from the south windows on the top floor of Luddy Hall. When the building is complete, two academic units will relocate to Luddy Hall -- computer science, and information and library science -- vacating their current spaces in Lindley Hall and the Herman B Wells Library, respectively. The new building will also house the school’s new Intelligent Systems Engineering department. Support services, including career services, undergraduate services, the offices of diversity and education, and IT staff, also will move to the new building. Photos by James Brosher
President McRobbie examines a future student’s living space in Memorial Hall, which will open soon to students. Memorial Hall and Goodbody Hall, in Wells Quad, were renovated and repurposed from academic space to student housing. Both facilities were originally built as residence halls. Memorial Hall, built in 1924, was the first IU-constructed women’s dorm; and Goodbody Hall opened in 1936. The renovation added 182 beds to student housing along with a 200-seat dining hall. Photos by James Brosher
During the tour of Goodbody Hall, President McRobbie saw a restored 1936 fireplace, the renovated Goodbody Eatery and the addition of the exterior Goodbody Eatery patio. Photos by James Brosher
