Members of the Jacksonville and Illinois College community gathered yesterday to rededicate a more modern fixture of the nearly 200-year-old institution.
A ribbon cutting was held for the new Crispin Hall on Thursday afternoon. The ceremony officially signaled the completion of a multi-year project to bring the 1963-era educational building into the modern age.
President of Illinois College, Dr. Barbara Farley says it was a great day for I.C. “We completely renovated it starting in 2019in two phases, and today we got to celebrate just the remarkable accomplishment for Illinois College and the Jacksonville community.”
The more than $12 million renovation saw the building stripped down to the basic concrete pours and piers then rebuilt into a state-of-the-art educational center.
During the first phase that started in 2019, the Crispin Hall Auditorium was transformed into a state-of-the-art flexible active learning space now known as the Del and Lisa Dunham Auditorium. The Dunhams were a driving force in seeing the renovation become a reality.
Construction on the second and much larger second phase began on June 1st, 2022. The whole of the project is part of I.C.’s Inspiring Achievement Initiative aimed at bringing the historic college into the future of higher education.
Farley says the now high-tech Crispin Hall will enable I.C. to better prepare students for graduating in the 21st century. “It means we are going to be able to expand academic programs that our region needs and our students want to pursue at Illinois College.
So that’s terrific, and it also expands our state-of-the-art instructional technology for our faculty and staff, and that’s what we need to do in preparing our graduates for the future.”
Crispin Hall will now offer expanded lab and classroom spaces for computer science, mathematics, physics, and psychology. School officials say 73% of Illinois College students attend at least one class in Crispin during their academic career on the hilltop.