Cutting the ribbon: President Eric Kaler (left), Board of Regents Chair Linda Cohen, Dean Jim Parente.
Photo by Everett Ayoubzadeh
A $34.5 million renovation has set the stage for historic Folwell Hall to be the homebase for CLA's national hub for the study of humanities, culture and languages.
The marble walls still gleam, the woodwork still shines, and the massive iron balustrades still recall the baronial Jacobean architectural taste popular in the U.S. when Folwell Hall was built in 1906.
But when some 12,000 students entered Folwell Hall this autumn, they found comfortable new study spaces, and high-tech classroom equipped with sophisticated audio-visual, projection systems, and solar-sensitive window shades that interface with classroom lighting. They could access campus maps and room schedules by sliding their ID cards through electronic card-readers in the hallways.
New offices for professors and teaching assistants are wired for modern electronics, and have demountable walls that will make future reconfigurations less costly. There is sound masking, and an air-conditioning system that no longer drowns out the subtleties of the spoken tilde or accent grave.
Finally Folwell! A new and improved Folwell Hall reopened in September as the Midwest's epicenter of studies of languages, literatures, and cultures. The year-long update of the interior followed an exterior re-do in 2008. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo by Everett Ayoubzadeh
A gala grand opening on September 9 drew a crowd, including Board of Regents Chair Linda Cohen, President Eric Kaler, and CLA Dean Jim Parente.
CLA has one of the most extensive language programs in the nation, offering 40 different languages, many of which support Minnesota trade interests, and are considered by the U.S. State Department "critical" for national trade and security purposes.
The internal re-do, like the 2007 external renovation which won a Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Award, was funded in part by $23 in State of Minnesota bond issues. The CLA Student Board played an important role in rallying legislative support for the project.
Folwell is on the National Historic Register as part of the University of Minnesota Old Campus Historic District.
