Northern State University - Campus

Campus

Northern State’s campus occupies 72 acres (29 ha) on the south side of Aberdeen. The oldest buildings on campus are centered around the green, and the campus has expanded outward since. The buildings where the majority of classes meet are the H.P. Gerber building, which houses the offices and classrooms for the School of Education, the Johnson Fine Arts Center, which is home of the fine arts department and also holds many level classes, and the Mewaldt Jensen building, which has 16 classrooms, 13 laboratories, and 60 offices which house the mathematics, science, and business departments.

The oldest buildings on Northern's campus are Lincoln, Kirkac, and Spafford. Because of their age, certain floors in each building are said to be haunted. Kircac has the original auditorium where a little girl was found dead. She was locked in the costume closet and wasn't found until the end of Christmas break. Spafford had the first gymnasium and the campus' only psych ward, which was located on the fourth floor. Many people don't know about the fourth floor because it was closed off after various reports of paranormal activity. Lincoln was the first residence hall but is now known as the office of business. It was renovated into classrooms after a freshman hazing prank went seriously wrong.

The campus has six dormitories, Briscoe Hall, Jerde Hall, Kramer Hall, Lindberg Hall, McArthur-Welsh Hall and Steele Hall. All of the dorms are co-ed, with Jerde Hall being the biggest with 375 students. All of the dorms are made up of either single or double rooms, except for Steele Hall and Kramer which consists of suites with a bathroom and a living room.

The Student Center opened in 1960 and houses the dining hall, the Campus Bookstore, the campus post office, and all student related services, as well as several meeting rooms. The Beulah Williams Library has undergone a recent expansion to triple its size. It can now hold 400 students, and has several group study rooms, multi-media stations, as well as an extensive collection of books.

The 128,000-square-foot (11,900 m2) athletic complex, the Joseph H. Barnett Physical Education and Convocation Center, was completed in 1987 and houses all of the coaches offices as well as several classrooms. Wachs Arena is named after 30 year Wolves basketball coach Bob Wachs, who won 532 games in his career which spanned from 1955 to 1985. The Basketball Court in named the Don Meyer Court, after Coach Don Meyer.