OGDEN, Utah – The construction of the brand new, 94,302-square-foot Elizabeth Hall is complete and the building is open for students as they return from winter break.

A ceremony will take place Jan. 9 to celebrate the completion of the 18-month project. The event will feature university officials, lawmakers and donors who assisted in the project. Also, special guest Peter Sagal, host of National Public Radio's "Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me," will speak in conjunction with the event.

Sagal's remarks, titled "Behind the Scenes of Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me," will take place in the Shepherd Union Building Ballrooms at 3 p.m. The ribbon cutting will occur at 4:15 p.m. in the George S. Eccles Lecture Hall within Elizabeth Hall. An open house for students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community will take place in Elizabeth Hall from 4 to 7 p.m.

The new, three-story building replaces single-story Buildings 1 and 2, two of the four original structures that have housed numerous departments and offices during more than 50 years on the Harrison Boulevard campus.

The new classroom building, which is located at the heart of the Ogden campus, will house the departments of communication, English, foreign languages, and telecommunication and business education. Elizabeth Hall will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council with the Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification.

"Elizabeth Hall provides both a geographic and educational center for Weber State University," said Madonne Miner, dean of the College of Arts & Humanities. "Every single student earning a degree from WSU will take classes in either English, languages, communication or telecommunications in Elizabeth Hall. I can hardly wait for the first day of spring semester classes. I intend to be eavesdropping on students, capturing their reactions to this beautifully-designed, light-filled learning space."

The university received $22.95 million in state funding for the project during the 2007 legislative session, along with $6 million in funds generously donated by private sponsors of the project, including the Stewart Education Foundation and the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. An additional $2 million came from state lawmakers during the 2006 session to begin designing the new facility. A portion of this funding was also used to construct a new central chiller plant for the WSU Ogden campus north of Stewart Stadium.

Elizabeth Hall is named in honor of Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart, a longtime supporter and benefactor of WSU.

Elizabeth Hall Facts & Figures:

Funding:

• $22.95 million from 2007 Legislature
• $6 million in private donations
• $2 million in planning and design money approved by 2006 Legislature

Architect: MHTN Architects of Salt Lake City
Builder: Jacobsen Construction

Utah's Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM)
WSU Project Managers: Jim Harris/Bruce Daley

Building dimensions: three stories tall, 94,302 square feet
Cost of building: $27,549,539

Other features:

• 29 classrooms with multimedia capabilities
• George S. Eccles Lecture Hall with seating capacity for 175 special lectures, presentations and courses
• Seven computer labs/classrooms, including two for discipline-specific work in technical and media writing and foreign languages
• A writing center
• A general tutoring center
• 95 faculty offices
• Sandstone art feature alongside south entrance and various other works of public art throughout the building, including two large sculptured pieces
• Home to departments of communication, English, foreign languages, and telecommunications and business education
• More classes offered than any other facility on campus

Energy efficient features:
Cool (white) roof, high efficiency glazings, LEED silver certification candidate

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