Sep. 20—GRAND FORKS — While one building project broke ground, another celebrated its completion at UND at the end of Homecoming Week. Both hold significance for the College of Arts and Sciences and drew support from the North Dakota Legislature.
Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Grand Forks, said students should have good facilities, good programs, good professors and good leaders. The latter two have a tougher time operating without quality facilities.
“When you’re looking at this campus, you’re looking at master planning,” he said. “You’re looking at people who have thought ahead of the game, so to speak.”
Sanford was one of a few people to speak at both the STEM Complex groundbreaking and the grand re-opening of Merrifield Hall on Friday, Sept. 19, alongside UND President Andrew Armacost and Dean Brad Rundquist of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Both projects have received financial support from the state, as well as donations. Sanford recalled how legislators looked into higher ed facilities in 2014 and saw billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, followed in 2017 with 750 reductions in staff across the North Dakota University System.
“You’re not building in that kind of an environment,” he said. “You’ve got to take care of these facilities.”
Now, though, there is an increased interest and knowledge of the higher ed system in the state, he said, as well as a willingness to step up and support it with the facilities it needs.
The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Complex will be built on the grounds of the
Hyslop Sports Center
, which began demolition in early August. The complex, which is expected to have Phase 1 substantially completed by summer 2027, will foster interdisciplinary collaboration between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Mines, said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association and Foundation.
It will serve more than 6,000 students — more than 40% of the UND student body — with modern classrooms, laboratories and spaces built on the legacy of the Hyslop, she said.
“The new STEM Complex will carry forward that legacy, starting a new legacy on this campus that will bring together those students, faculty, alumni and industry partners in a great space designed for innovation, collaboration and discovery,” she said.
Dean Ryan Adams of the College of Engineering and Mines said the college is the largest by head count at UND, and the largest college of engineering in North and South Dakota. A previous plan for renovations to other facilities didn’t meet the need the college’s executive board was looking for, which led to conversations across campus that sparked the plan for the complex. The STEM Complex will set UND apart from others with “unprecedented levels of collaboration across traditional disciplinary boundaries,” he said, referring to how students both from his college and the College of Arts and Sciences will use the space.
“We’re very, very excited to achieve this milestone,” he said.
Rundquist had his own story of planning for the renovations to Merrifield Hall, which began around 2019. The building sees about 100% of on-campus students come through it, touching almost every student at UND, he said. It also has an important place in the hearts of alumni who have spent time in it, who asked Rundquist to keep certain aspects of the building.
Rundquist said he was nervous about the project because of its importance to alumni and students, but he couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
“I hope you feel the same way as you walk around today and take a look at the building,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Armacost said the project has preserved the building’s history while also making sure UND was captured in its very design. He called Merrifield a beacon over the campus, and those involved in the renovation wanted to retain its essence.
“It represents a place where many of our students gather, our faculty gather to learn, to learn what it means to be human, to learn how to interact, to learn to communicate,” he said.