A once run down building with dated technology, a revamped Hagerty Hall opened its doors Monday, boasting new equipment.
“This is a high-tech, state-of-the-art facility,” said Florian Vauleon, a French teaching assistant at Ohio State. “The old place was cool, but this place is tiptop. The coffee machine changed into a Java Master.”
Described as an international portal linked to multiple nations of the world, university officials said the recently renovated Hagerty Hall, located along College Road on the Oval, will become the nation’s premiere site for the study of languages, cultures, world literature and religions.
The restoration process began in 1998 when OSU’s business college, which was at the time located in Hagerty Hall, moved and to the College of Humanities took up residence in the hall.
Built in 1924 as the Commerce and Journalism Building, the historic facility was entirely remodeled during the last six years. Now it includes the World Media and Culture Center, a cafe with televisions that broadcast stations from throughout the world, a new 250-seat auditorium, state-of-the-art classrooms and labs, a video-conferencing center and a renovated courtyard.
Currently, Hagerty Hall is in use as the new home of the majority of Ohio State’s foreign language departments.
The grand opening is Monday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and is open to the public.
“We hope we will have a large crowd of well-wishers to launch what we believe will be a signature facility on the OSU campus,” said Melinda Nelson, assistant executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We expect (the facility) to usher in a new era of foreign language and culture and teaching and learning.”
The grand opening at Hagerty Hall will feature guest speakers, singers, dancers, food from around the world, interactive displays and other festivities, Nelson said.
“(The new facility) is an international portal in the sense it brings the world together through media,” said John Roberts, dean of the College of Humanities. The College of Humanities was named tenant of the building about five years ago, when architects began plans to transform the building from the College of Business.
In 1947, Hagerty Hall was named after James Hagerty, the first dean of the College of Commerce and Journalism. Hagerty Hall was enlarged in 1948, said Diane Birckbichler, director of the Foreign Language Center.
“Not too many schools have anything like the World Media and Culture Center or the ability to teach languages in the way we will be able,” Roberts said. “The majority of the language departments are located there,” except for Greek, Latin and African American languages, he said.
The building now houses the departments of comparative studies, East Asian languages and literatures, French and Italian, Germanic languages and literatures, Near Eastern languages and cultures, Slavic and East European languages and literatures, Spanish and Portuguese, the Foreign Language Center and Humanities Information Systems.
