At the close of UMRA’s September luncheon meeting, UMRA members will be treated to a special “behind the scenes” tour of the New Northrop. When you sign up for the luncheon, please indicate if you intend to attend the tour, so the Northrop staff can plan accordingly.

With its stately columns, iconic Northrop has long represented the University to Minnesotans. Most of us can recall events we attended at Northrop Auditorium. As a freshman at St. Margaret’s Academy I sat in the first row of the balcony when the entire school attended a concert of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. In the ’60s, I sat in row five on the first floor to hear Joan Baez sing ballads and almost in the same seat 30 years later to learn about glasnost and perestroika from Eduard Shevardnadze. Northrop has opened the world—learning, culture, and critical issues—to University students and to the people of Minnesota.

The University recognized the value of Northrop, but alas over the years, did not invest adequately in its upkeep. The first week I took on my assignment as vice president for University Services in September 2002, a piece of the decorative plasterwork fell to the floor in Memorial Hall, the grand entrance to Northrop—fortunately, not hitting anyone. It was clear that Northrop needed attention.

Throughout the years, more than a dozen committees had been tasked by succeeding administrations to determine the future of Northrop. A comprehensive forensic study, done in 2004, documented that every system (heating, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, ventilation, windows) required immediate attention and complete replacement. The restoration of Northrop could not be a piecemeal job. Cost estimates also demonstrated that if the University were to spend tens of millions of dollars restoring it, then the building had to serve the University’s mission, academic programs, and community, each and every day.

In 2005, President Bruininks appointed yet another committee on the future of Northrop. Steven Rosenstone, then dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and I co-chaired the group of about 16 members including deans, faculty, students and University advocates. Meetings were held with members of the U community and the state’s cultural leaders.

It was a student member’s observation that inspired the vision for the “New Northrop.” she said, “Northrop is like a church. It stands in the middle of campus, dark and empty most of the time. But you go to Northrop for important events—for orientation as a freshman, for graduation, and for a few special events in between.”

Yes! the committee recognized. Northrop needed to come alive. It needed to be the center of the University’s mission and its academic life.

Achieving this vision took four years, an investment of almost $100 million, and the coordinated work of a world class team of architects, engineers, specialists in acoustics and theater design, deconstruction specialists, and construction managers. They removed the entire interior of the 80-year-old building, except for Memorial Hall, and built the New Northrop inside. An extremely complex project, it has received international recognition.

It is impossible in this space to recognize all those who contributed to the success of this effort. Let it be said that it took the entire Board of Regents, President Bruinink’s persistence, Vice President Rosenstone’s leadership, and the work of many, many others. Of note: UMRA members will remember Professor Judith Martin, who, in the last year of her life, served as an academic shepherd and donated funds to restore a WPA mural in the building.

The “New Northrop” celebrated its reopening last spring. The restoration truly has achieved the vision of bringing Northrop into the center of the University’s academic life. Northrop is a multi-purpose, state-of-the-art cultural center with upgraded acoustics and sightlines. It is home to the University Honor’s Program, the Center for Advanced Studies, and the College of Design’s Travelers Innovation Lab. It has seminar rooms, classrooms, and a café; it has doubled East Bank study space. It is lit up and alive every day. The New Northrop brings the world to the University. And, Northrop is bringing the University to the world.

— Kathleen O’Brien, UMRA Board member