Campus
Augustana is situated on 115 acres of Mississippi River Valley hillside. Scenic walkways connect 26 buildings on the beautiful, landscaped campus, hidden but not far from the busy urban community.The following major campus sites can be identified on the map:
The Augustana College Art Museum
The Augustana College Art Museum is located in the main foyer adjoining the Centennial Hall auditorium. The museum serves the college and community by displaying visual arts exhibitions and offering programs that complement the liberal arts curriculum. An important aspect of the museum’s program is the opportunity it offers students to learn museum work and to prepare art for exhibition. Student and faculty work is periodically displayed, as well as exhibits organized in-house and from national tours. The exhibits regularly draw from the resources of the college’s permanent art collection of approximately 3,000 pieces, which includes one of the pre-eminent collections of Swedish-American art and the Olson-Brandelle North American Indian Art Collection (mainly Southwest region ceramics). The Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts has assembled an art historical overview. More than 800 collection artworks are displayed in secure public areas across campus.
Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts
Bergendoff Hall, dedicated in 1955 and named in honor of the fifth Augustana College President, Dr. Conrad Bergendoff, features classrooms, music studios, the Freistat Piano Lab, computer/listening lab, band and orchestra rooms and private music practice rooms. Two auditoriums — Potter Hall (for dramatic productions) and Larson Hall (for choral rehearsals, recitals, lectures and classes) — are located here, along with faculty offices for the departments of art history, music and theatre arts.
Betsey Brodahl Building
The Betsey Brodahl Building, opened in 1996 and named in honor of Betsey Brodahl, former Associate Dean of Students, houses the communication sciences and disorders department and the Center for Communication Disorders, where students and faculty provide assessment and intervention services for the community.
Black Culture House
Established in 1968, the Black Culture House offers students, staff and faculty a place to gather, relax and celebrate in an environment rich with cultural art and artifacts. It is intended to provide an affirming environment, particularly for students to discuss African-American culture in our modern context.
Casa Latina
Established in 1993, the house serves as a center for Hispanic student activities, including tutoring, studying, small-group discussions and meetings. A mural on the wall of the meeting room depicts aspects of Hispanic culture and was painted by students from Augustana and volunteers from the community.
Centennial Hall
The simultaneous centennial celebrations of Augustana College and the Augustana Lutheran Church in 1959-60 were conducted in the new Centennial Hall located next to Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts. Seating more than 1,600, the auditorium is designed for concerts, lectures, convocations and conventions. It is equipped with a theatre-type screen and projection booth. The focal point of the large stage is the Crosell Memorial Pipe Organ. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra presents an annual series of concerts in Centennial Hall.
College Center
The College Center is a hub for social, recreational and extracurricular activities. All members of the campus community use the center’s facilities, which include lounges, the college mail room, snack bar, 600-seat cafeteria, meeting rooms, bookstore and the information desk. Dining Services offices are located on the upper floor.
Denkmann Memorial Hall
Originally the location of the library, this building on central campus was renovated in 1991 and now houses faculty offices and facilities for foreign languages, and a beautiful concert/lecture hall. On the lower level is the Denkmann Center for Foreign Language Study, with two modern language labs, individual viewing and listening stations and a multi-purpose classroom.
The large reading room of the former library is now Wallenberg Hall, a concert/lecture hall seating approximately 320. An art installation within the hall features a diverse selection of multicultural pieces from the Augustana College Art Collection. Also located in Denkmann is the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, a major research facility devoted to the study of all aspects of Swedish immigration to the United States.
Doris and Victor Day Broadcast Center
This location for WVIK-FM Augustana Public Radio was made possible by a gift from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation. Dedicated in 1996, the Center provides spacious, modern production and broadcast facilities for the college’s National Public Radio affiliate station.
Environmental Field Stations
The nationwide Organization of Biological Field Stations considers student exposure to teaching and research at ecological preserves to be one of the best ways to interest students in the environment and to instill a sense of stewardship for the natural world. In the 1990s, Augustana was fortunate to acquire three environmental stations in northern Illinois representing a microcosm of the ecosystems that once dominated the Prairie State. Two of these properties are within the Quad Cities.
The Collinson Ecological Preserve is a high-quality remnant of upland forests and hill prairies located in the town of Milan. Beling Ecological Preserve, situated in southeast Rock Island, encompasses significant riparian forest habitat and a small island on the Rock River. Both sites are within convenient driving distance for day trips from campus. The large Green Wing Environmental Laboratory is located in Lee County, halfway between the Quad Cities and Chicago. Encompassing extensive forests, wetlands and a prairie restoration, this former ELCA Bible Camp contains renovated buildings in which summer classes are taught and research is conducted by students and professors.
Ericson Field
The home of Viking football and track/ cross country teams is Ericson Field and the Paul V. Olsen Track. An all-weather composition nine-lane track was constructed in 1992, and other track and field facilities were renovated at the same time. The softball field is adjacent to Ericson Field and the Carver Physical Education Center. The soccer field is located on the upper campus, near the Erickson and Westerlin residence centers and the PepsiCo Recreation Center. The baseball team plays in the 300-seat Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field, which opened in 2004.
Emmy Carlsson Evald Hall
The former Carlsson Hall residence was transformed into an academic facility and re-dedicated as Emmy Carlsson Evald Hall in fall 2008. The building houses offices and classrooms for six departments — accounting; business administration; economics; education; psychology; and sociology, anthropology and social welfare.
Founders Hall
Connected by gothic archways to both the Swenson Hall of Geosciences and Seminary Hall, Founders Hall is the location of the chief administrative offices of the college. These include the offices of the President, Dean of the College, Dean of Students, the Registrar, College Chaplain and Director of Counseling Service. The offices of Communication and Marketing are on the upper floor of Founders Hall, as is Ascension Chapel, the house of worship for the Augustana community.
Franklin W. Olin Center for Educational Technology
Dedicated in 1998, this technology center was made possible by a $7.5 million grant from the F.W. Olin Foundation. Facilities include student computer labs, a multimedia lab, classrooms equipped with presentation and communication technologies, special seminar and student project rooms, audio and video conferencing facilities and a 300-seat auditorium. Faculty offices and classrooms for the department of computer science and mathematics are located here, along with departmental project labs for students and faculty. The college’s information technology services department also is based in the Franklin W. Olin Center.
House on the Hill
This 25-room mansion was once the family home of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company. Given to Augustana by the family in 1954, its lower-level floor is used for entertaining college and community guests. Female students reside in its second- and third-floor apartments. It is maintained by an endowment created by friends of the college, with support from descendants of the donors. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Deere Planetarium
On top of the hill where Founders, Seminary and Swenson halls reside stands the John Deere Planetarium. The planetarium seats 78 and is equipped with a Spitz A-3-P and auxiliary devices for projecting star patterns found in any portion of the sky and/or at any time in history. The Carl Gamble Observatory has a computer-driven 14-inch Celestron reflector telescope for direct viewing of celestial objects. Its dome and elliptical deck accommodate up to 40 persons. Adjacent to the planetarium is a large auditorium for lectures and meetings. Programs are planned for the general public, elementary and secondary students, college students and other interested groups.
Old Main
A landmark on campus for more than 100 years and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this stately stone structure with its towering dome is the focus of central campus. Offices and classrooms for classics, English, philosophy, speech communication, religion and social sciences are located in Old Main. Cable Hall, used as a faculty meeting/reception room from the late 1880s through the early 1900s, is on the second floor of Old Main; in 1983 Cable Hall was restored to its original appearance and is now used as a classroom.
The Pagoda
Since 1997, this house has served as a gathering place for students of Asian heritage and for others interested in Asian languages and cultures. The Pagoda also is the traditional location for programs which explore cultural diversity and support multicultural interests.
PepsiCo Recreation Center
The PepsiCo Recreation Center opened in the fall of 1995 and is located next to the two largest residence centers on campus. It houses a 200-meter six-lane track; courts for basketball, racquetball, tennis and volleyball; and rooms with aerobic equipment, free weights and weight machines. The building is dedicated to intramural and recreational activities.
Residence Halls
Westerlin Residence Center, comprising Immanuel, Jenny Lind and Westerlin wings, is a co-ed residence center for 450 students located in the southwest section of the campus. It features a large adjoining dining hall. Nearby stands the historic House on the Hill, a portion of which houses women. The Knut Erickson Residence Center is adjacent to Westerlin Center and also is co-ed, housing 350 students in three wings. Andreen Hall houses 210 women on the central campus. The Duane R. Swanson Commons opened its doors to 240 residents in August 2006. The building’s east wing accommodates first-year students in two-room suites adjoined by a shared restroom. The southwest wing houses juniors in apartment-style units known as transitional living areas (TLAs), offering them an opportunity for a more independent living experience.
Other TLA apartments, suites and houses along the periphery of campus include Asgard, Andeberg, Anderson/Bartholomew, Andreen apartments, Baldur, Bellman, Bergman, Bostad, Branting, Bremer, Celsius, Delling, Delstat, Esbjorn, Forseti, Freya, Gustav, Hedin, Heimdall, House on the Hill, Idun, Karsten, Larsson, Levander, Lindgren, Local Culture, Lundholm, Martinson, Mills, Moberg, Nobel, Oden, Ostara, Roslin, Ryden, Sanning, Swedenborg, Tredway, Tyr, Vidar, Viking, Zander and Zorn houses. Two townhouse complexes, opened in 1996 and named in memory of Dr. George Arbaugh, former Dean of the College, and Dr. Henriette Naeseth, former professor of English, provide accommodations for 145 junior students. The Dorothy Parkander Residence Center, located next to Swanson Commons and completed in August 2007, houses 56 residents in two separate buildings. Some TLA houses are reserved for senior students.
Robert A. and Patricia K. Hanson Hall of Science
Dedicated in 1998, the Hanson Hall of Science sits at the west edge of central campus and houses the highly advanced facilities for the departments of biology, chemistry and physics. Classrooms and lecture halls equipped with computer-supported teaching technology complement the modern teaching laboratories, so that students learn science in an environment meeting the latest educational and safety standards. Special student/faculty research labs are reserved for student-assisted faculty research projects; the proximity of all three major science departments promotes many collaborative efforts. Faculty offices and conference rooms for the three departments are found in a three-story atrium topped by a skylight dome, located between the classroom wing and the research lab wing. Open lounge areas also provide for easy interaction between students and faculty.
Roy J. Carver Physical Education Center
Physical education classes and intramurals are held in the Carver Physical Education Center, which also is used for intercollegiate basketball, volleyball, wrestling and swimming. The center also has excellent facilities for competition, dance/aerobics and weight-training programs, and holds offices for the physical education faculty, coaches and athletic directors.
Seminary Hall
A few steps from Founders Hall is Seminary Hall, one section of which holds the offices of the vice president for enrollment and communication, as well as the directors of admissions, diversity, and financial assistance. In addition, a residence portion of the hall provides housing for 80 first-year women and men.
Sorensen Hall
This building, named in honor of Dr. C.W. Sorensen, sixth president of Augustana College, is home for the Community Engagement Center. The CEC includes offices for off-campus programs, career development, internship services, the Center for Vocational Reflection, entrepreneurial development, service learners and volunteers. It also houses the business office, facilities services, the Office of Advancement and Alumni, and the Quad-Cities Graduate Center.
Studio Art Building
A studio art facility adjacent to the existing studio art buildings was opened in 1997 to provide faculty offices, a modern darkroom and studio spaces for photography, design, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, fibers and weaving.
Carl E. Swenson Hall of Geosciences
Renovated in 2001, Swenson Hall of Geosciences is the location of the departments of geography and geology and home of the Fryxell Geology Museum and its valuable collections of rocks, minerals and fossils. Erected in the foyer of the museum is a fully cast skeleton of Cryolophosaurus ellioti, a carnivorous dinosaur discovered by Augustana paleontologist Dr. William Hammer in Antarctica in 1991. Also located here is the bulk of the David M. Loring Map Library (partially housed in the Tredway Library) and the geography department’s GIS lab and weather station.
Thomas Tredway Library
One of the most important resources of any college is its library; Augustana’s Thomas Tredway Library has one of the finest collections among liberal arts colleges of the Midwest. The Tredway Library currently subscribes to more than 97 electronic databases and has a collection of nearly 480,000 items, including books, periodicals, audio-visual materials and maps. The rare book collection — which includes first editions of Milton and Spenser as well as hundreds of volumes of Mississippiana — is available for research and displayed in a special room. The 85,000-square-foot building also includes meeting rooms, private study offices, computer labs, conference rooms, the Reading/Writing Center, the Augustana Center for Teaching and Learning, and a coffee shop. Networked computers are provided for student use, and a campus-wide network connects the library’s electronic resources to all of the campus buildings. Also located in the building is a portion of the David M. Loring Map Library, including the most current U.S. Geological Survey Topographical maps.
The Wilson Faculty Center
This addition to the College Center, completed in the summer of 1989, serves as a faculty dining and conference center. The facility features a custom-designed stained glass window depicting the college seal.
Other Facilities
The Augustana Research Foundation, an affiliate of the college and not-for-profit corporation of Illinois, conducts scientific research for industry and supports scientific research by Augustana faculty and students. Augustana is a founding member of the Quad-Cities Graduate Study Center. Located in Sorensen Hall, the Graduate Center is a consortium of 10 colleges and universities from Illinois and Iowa, including seven state universities and three private institutions. More than 80 master’s-degree and post-baccalaureate certificate programs are available.
