"Next to the men that teach its students and to the men that control its affairs the library and museum are the most important means of building up a great institution," states the January 1870 Iowa Board of Regents minutes.

At the dawn of its Sesquicentennial, Iowa State University is reaffirming its dedication to the land grant mission by opening a state-of-the-art contemporary museum in Morrill Hall, on central campus at the University’s pulse. The museum exists to better educate Iowa State University students. This education will be delivered through integrated visual literacy curriculum as well as students’ everyday social interactions.

In addition to the Christian Petersen Art Museum, an affiliate of University Museums, Morrill Hall will serve as the home of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, and the Visual Learning Center for Textiles and Clothing. These three entities share one common vision – to enhance students’ education and their overall experience at Iowa State University through visual and object-based learning. A museum focused on campus-wide visual learning at Iowa State will be the first of such buildings across the nation, just as Iowa State was the first designated land grant institution.

The Christian Petersen Art Museum is a natural fit for the historic Morrill Hall. Petersen once said, "The man who sets himself apart and then calls himself an artist frustrates himself. He must first learn to love people – to think with them – before he can begin to create a work of art." It is through this love of people that the true legacy of Petersen begins. Based on the artistic traditions Petersen established, the new museum will energize the study of contemporary issues based in tradition. The experience will be accessible to all students through their interaction with visiting artists or experts and through the use of ISU’s visual and public art collections. The Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall will expand Christian Petersen’s legacy of public art by housing 700 drawings and sculptures by Petersen and more than 300 models and drawings of contemporary public art projects commissioned since 1980.

The establishment of the Christian Petersen Art Museum and its programs will place Petersen and his legacy of the Art on Campus Program in the context of American Art History. This collection artistically distinguishes Iowa State University.

The new facility will enable University Museums to:

·         Administer teaching and learning opportunities to students and faculty, as well as for Ames audiences and statewide distance learning participants.

·         Ensure programs and exhibits are available to support curriculum-based and interdisciplinary learning.

·         Allocate flexible spaces where students and faculty may curate exhibitions and displays

·         Promote creative thinking, problem solving and communication skills through exhibitions, programs and museum activities.

·         Support and enhance the concepts of motivated high-impact learning by incorporating the latest technology in the art experience. Technology will include, but is not limited to the following :

o        A research station that features Art on Campus objects where students may interact with the Art on Campus interpretive database that utilizes video, animation, text and narrative to enhance the learner’s experience.

o        A station where public Art on Campus tours can be downloaded onto visitor’s MP3 player, cell phone, or PDA.

o        Podcasting (audio) and vodcasting (video) of tours and lectures.

o        Exhibition installations that actively incorporate interpretive tools such as flat screen monitors built into display pedestals which are networked to the museum’s collections management database and object files.