Academic Buildings
At the hub of Berea’s academic life are Draper, Frost, and other academic buildings such as the new Margaret A. Cargill Natural Sciences and Health Building. Draper houses classrooms and faculty offices for six academic departments as well as the Campus Christian Center. Originally built in 1937, the renovated Draper includes the use of materials, design principles, and monitoring equipment that make it a model of sustainable and environmentally sound renovation while retaining the original character of the building. Frost houses four departments in the humanities and social sciences. The new Cargill building, opened in the Fall of 2018, houses biology, chemistry, mathematics, nursing and physics, as well as accompanying laboratories, a planetarium, the Yahng Discovery Center, and also the Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Berea College alumnus John Fenn in 2002. Similarly, the Goldthwait Agricultural Building provides animal and plant laboratories essential to the study of agriculture and natural resources. Berea’s center for theatre is the Ross Jelkyl Drama Center, containing the McGaw and Musser theatres and the Theatre Laboratory studios. The Danforth Industrial Arts Building is the home of Berea’s Technology and Applied Design and Computer Science Departments. Presser Hall houses the campus concert hall (Gray Auditorium) and the offices and rehearsal facilities of the Music Department. The Rogers Memorial Art Building, connected to the Dimitrie Berea Gallery (2003), and the Traylor Building (1977) all provide art galleries that display visiting exhibits and the College’s own fine arts collection, as well as classrooms, faculty offices, and studios. The Education Studies Department is housed in the recently renovated Knapp Hall. The Child and Family Studies Department resides in the Emery Building, which dates back to 1924 and reopened in the Fall of 2009 after a year of extensive renovations, including newly designed classroom and laboratory facilities. The Harrison-McLain Home Management House serves as a laboratory facility for family resource management. Most College-wide events take place in Phelps Stokes Chapel, built by students between 1904 and 1906.