A critical project and pillar of Inspiring Achievement: The Campaign for Illinois College is the renovation of Crispin Hall. This project will transform Crispin into a 21st-century learning environment, create new academic programs to attract top students, and refresh a key part of campus that greets visitors and the community on College Avenue.

Crispin Hall was built in 1963 and named for Dr. Egerton L. Crispin 1902, a noted physician and IC alumnus. Each academic year, 73 percent of students take at least one class in the building, which has not been significantly updated since its construction. The first phase of the renovation was completed in 2019, resulting in a multifunctional auditorium space and a modern foyer. Now, the second phase aims to revitalize the rest of the building, inside and out, and return it to its scientific roots.

Plans for Crispin Hall include expanding lab and classroom spaces for computer science, mathematics, physics, and psychology, prioritizing space for collaboration for students and their faculty mentors. These resources are vital for the College to remain competitive in recruiting and retaining students, and preparing them to be leaders in technology-rich fields. Without this key facility, talented students who would benefit from IC’s multidisciplinary education will choose to study elsewhere. 

A reinvented Crispin Hall will greet bright recruits — who hope to study in expanding fields like engineering and neuroscience — with a state-of-the-art research center designed for the hands-on learning that will give them a competitive advantage in their career. Today, they are met with an outdated academic building, peeling paint and cracking tiles.

The first phase of the Crispin renovation demonstrated how classroom spaces can provide innovative learning environments with integrated technology. The $1.2 million first phase was funded by private gifts to the College and the resulting auditorium is a contemporary, flexible and dynamic active-learning space and gathering place for campus and community events. 

It was named for Del ’72 and Lisa Dunham who reside in Texas and have played a valuable role in the success of the Campaign to date. Del serves as Campaign chair and the family has led fundraising efforts, notably making a significant leadership gift toward the first phase renovation. They are also members of the Illinois College Varsity Club and lifetime members of the Illinois College Society, and Del has served on the Illinois College Board of Trustees for more than 15 years.

Del took classes in Crispin Hall as a student. One of his mentors was Fred Pilcher, who taught physics at IC for 35 years and was largely the source of Del’s inspiration to become a physics major. Del has said he uses the skills he learned in those classes to this day. In 2014, the Dunhams established the Jack Mann and Fred Pilcher Physics and Mathematics Research Support Fund for students and faculty to conduct research in physics and math.

IC must not only keep pace to prepare students for success in competitive careers and graduate programs in a rapidly changing world, but to empower them to be leaders and changemakers like Del and Joe Calmese ’07.

A first-generation graduate originally from St. Louis, Joe studied physics and graduated as a top student and recipient of the George W. Horton Sr. Prize in Physics. While building his professional career, he worked with at-risk kids in a robotics club he created in the north part of St. Louis. He was also recently elected to the Alumni Association Board of Directors. 

Joe was a student when Parker Hall was new, thanks to the investment of those who came before him. He recalls the late nights he spent studying in the building: “I think the halls that you study in, the rooms that you study in, become a part of you. I close my eyes and I can smell Parker Hall.”

He added that having facilities that help students connect with their field and their teachers — and make them all feel proud and passionate about the work they’re doing — is a critical part of learning.

“If you think about what we know of the outside world, people in a good mindset perform better. So, if we’re in the performance game and there’s a scorecard, being great is important and having great facilities is a key part of that,” he said. “If you feel good, you play good.”

To learn more about the renovation of Crispin Hall and how you can get involved, visit www.ic.edu/campaign/crispin. For more information about naming opportunities, visit www.ic.edu/crispin/naming.