Hutton Honors College moves in

The cling and clatter of construction at the corner of 7th Street and Woodlawn Avenue ended during holiday break, marking the completion of the new Hutton Honors College and allowing faculty and staff to officially move in on Jan. 5.

“I think it’s a beautiful addition to the campus, it’s just a little jewel of a building,” said Provost Karen Hanson. “It’s beautiful aesthetically, and it’s beautiful functionally, and both are equally important.”

Before the new facility opened, the HHC was housed in two separate locations near 7th Street and Jordan Avenue – one building for advisers and one for administrators.

“We’re very excited,” said Lynn Cochran, HHC assistant dean. “It’s a beautiful space, and it’s a really nice entryway to the campus. It’s nice to have our houses under one roof.”

Administrators and students agreed the new space will allow the Honors College to run more smoothly. The large building will allow for more social functions and student gatherings.

“We’ve got wonderful student space. We’ve got a large Great Hall with a cathedral ceiling that can hold up to 50 or 55 students,” Cochran said, “so we have a larger capacity for the sorts of extracurricular activities we do in the evenings.”

Other features of the facility include an oxford style library, kitchen, collaborative student work room, conference room, seminar room and classrooms with modern IT equipment.

“It was always so crowded in the older buildings, so it’ll be great to finally see something established to handle the operations of the Honors College,” said sophomore Joe Buser.

One student group plans to make great use of the student space. The Honors Student Association has become accustomed to renting meeting spaces throughout campus.

The group holds large meetings every other week and executive meetings during the off weeks. In the past, the students have struggled to find appropriate space to meet.

“We’ve had to meet in the Union or wherever we could find a room to rent, and now this building actually has a meeting room we can use,” said sophomore and Honors Student Association President Kevin O’Brien.

O’Brien said he hopes the new facility will help entice high school seniors to choose IU over other top universities. Incoming freshmen who are interested in the HHC will be given a tour of the new facility.

“With a building as nice as it is, centrally located on campus, it will give a face to the Honors College,” O’Brien said.

The $3.6 million building was funded by an endowment from Ed Hutton, who spent countless hours on the construction site overlooking activities. Hanson said Hutton created relationships with the working crews. 

“The fellows working on it began to know him in the course of that and began to appreciate what a terrific guy he is,” Hanson said. “They got the sense they were trying to do a good job for him too, in addition to Indiana University.”

The HHC will host a grand opening reception on April 8. Students, faculty and alumni will be invited to celebrate and tour the building.