Welcome to Grinnell College

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Welcome

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If you're looking for a highly personalized and global education that emphasizes experiential learning and a focus on both intellectual growth and professional preparation, Grinnell could be just the place for you. Explore our beautiful campus by jumping to the next stop with the "next" button, selecting a location from the list on the left side, or clicking on the map in the bottom left. Explore any location in more detail by selecting the 360, photos, or video icons. My name is Emma, and I'm a multimedia storytelling independent major from Colorado. I am Soham, an economics major from India, and we will show you around.

Admission and Financial Aid Office

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Our centrally located Admission and Student Financial Services building houses the Office of Admission, Office of Financial Aid, Student Accounts, and the Cashier. If you register for a campus visit, it will likely start and end here. The building features alumni profiles, a pencil wall display with fun facts about Iowa, a fireplace, and a beautiful sustainable design. When the pandemic began and the College was shifting to remote learning, I didn't have the resources to travel back to India. So, I came here, and the Office of Financial Aid helped me find the resources to make that travel possible.

Humanities and Social Studies Center

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The Humanities and Social Studies Center, commonly called the “Husk” as a nod to the abundant cornfields across our home state, houses most of our humanities and social studies departments, the Institute for Global Engagement, the Office of International Student Affairs, the Global Kitchen, an auditorium, the Reading and Writing Labs, and the Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab. Designed to encourage interdisciplinary learning, the Husk also models sustainable design with a green roof, rainwater storage, and geothermal heating. I often go to the Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab to do my economics and statistics coursework, and I've found a close community of students there who I love learning with and from.

Science Center

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The Robert N. Noyce ’49 Science Center is named after an alum who co-founded the technology company Intel and whose invention, the integrated circuit, led to microchips and sparked the information age. This state-of-the-art building is home to all of our STEM departments, Kistle Science Library, the physics museum, and the greenhouse. Every Friday night, you can find students running around the building with nerf guns for 'Nerf at Noyce.' I not only made great friends through Nerf at Noyce, but discovered many of the maze-like building's hidden gems.

Campus Center

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The Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center is the center of student activity. It houses the Dining Hall, the Grill, a student art gallery, a wellness lounge, a game room, lounges, offices, a large event space, classrooms, the Mail Room, the Office of Student Affairs, and the Office of Intercultural Affairs. The building is named after alum, trustee, and benefactor Joe Rosenfield. Many offices and student organizations host study breaks in the JRC. My first year, Dining Services hosted a study break in which they served over 27 different ice cream flavors. I was a little too ambitious and felt sick after, but I remember that study break fondly nonetheless.

Residence Halls

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The residence halls are separated into three campuses, each with their own personality. Students love North Campus for its big lounges and proximity to Mac Field, the Harris Center, and the Bear Recreation and Athletic Center. The only all-first-year residence hall is on North Campus, as well as apartment-style living. Students love East Campus for its contemporary design and added amenities and South Campus for its vibrant social life and closed loggia, which is a blessing during the winter. Single-gender, gender-inclusive, and substance-free options are available in all residence halls by request. I live in South Campus, and I love having hallmates spontaneously stop by to say hello and exchange messages on the whiteboards.

Athletic Center

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The Charles Benson Bear ’39 Recreation and Athletic Center is a world-class athletic center that includes a gymnasium, an Olympic sized swimming pool, a 200-meter indoor track, a state-of-the-art fitness center, climbing and bouldering walls, racquetball courts, dance and yoga studios, a recreational gym, and more. A range of outdoor fields and courts surround the Bear as well, including a 400-meter outdoor track and a 9-hole golf course. Whether or not you're on a varsity team, there's a place for you at the Bear. I love watching the sun set from the fitness center and running through the Bear's long halls with the track team when it's too cold or icy to run outside.

Career Center

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The John Crystal Center or the JCC is home to the Office of the Registrar and the Center for Careers, Life, and Service, or CLS, Grinnell's one-stop shop for postgraduate preparation. Fun fact: the ratio of students to CLS advisers is 85:1, far below the national average! The CLS has seven career communities, which provide industry-specific advising for career paths such as law, medicine, engineering, and the arts. I joined the business and finance community my first year. I heard about a business ethics competition in Los Angeles and found a group of students who were all really interested in attending. With support from the CLS, we were able to take a fully funded trip to the conference. It showed me that if you're passionate about something, you can really make it happen at Grinnell.

Health, Counseling, and Technology Services

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The Forum was once the student center and the hub of student life. Now, the Forum is a tech hub and home to everything from Information Technology Services, the Creative Computing Lab, and virtual reality research spaces. The Student Health and Wellness Center is also located in the Forum. Students go to SHAW for physical and mental health, wellness, over-the-counter medicine, transportation to medical centers or pharmacies, and more.

Outdoor Open Spaces

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On a warm, sunny day, Mac Field is the perfect place to play frisbee or soccer, study, or have a picnic. It’s also great for stargazing, watching the annual lighting of Gates Tower, celebrating Holi, and barbequing. On the other side of campus we have the commencement stage, where I performed in a student music festival my first year. The music festival, called the Grinnellian, often falls on a beautiful spring day, with students lounging on picnic blankets and music filling the whole campus. A little further from campus, the Conard Environmental Research Area includes prairie, oak savanna, and an environmental education center. Students go there for fieldwork, art, recreation, and more.

Entertainment / Student Life Spaces

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The Harris Center is an event space that comes alive during the weekends. Themed dances, the bi-annual Drag Show, film screenings, Presidential candidate town halls, Diwali, the International Student Organization’s food bazaar, and Puppies and Pancakes are just a few of the many events that are held in Harris. My first year, I made pani poori with a friend and served it at the food bazaar, and it was a wonderful experience. The event showcases both the College's ethnic diversity and the importance of that diversity. Bob’s Underground is one of the coolest spaces on campus. Art covers its walls, and it's home to regular open mics and stand up comedy. Fun fact: Oscar-nominated comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani performed his first stand-up set here! Kumail graduated in 2001 with majors in computer science and philosophy and went on to star in TV shows and movies like Silicon Valley, Portlandia, The Big Sick, and Marvel's Eternals.

Fine Arts Center

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The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts includes Sebring-Lewis Concert Hall, music practice rooms, the World Music Room, a dance studio, three floors of art studios, Roberts Theatre, two black box theatres, classrooms, and the Grinnell College Museum of Art. Students can use the art spaces, join the ensembles and theatre productions, and even receive free music lessons regardless of their major. One of my favorite memories is taking a music, culture, and context course and each week, we played a different instrument from the culture we were learning about. I also enjoyed attending a town hall for Joe Biden when he was a presidential candidate. Some of my friends and my track coach asked him questions, and it felt like the whole country had its eyes on Grinnell for the evening.

Art Museum

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The Grinnell College Museum of Art is located in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts and hosts multiple exhibitions each year, including an exhibition of student art. Many events also take place in the museum, including lectures, readings, concerts, class visit, and yoga. Through these events as well as less formal visits, faculty, staff, students, and community members are able to engage in dialogue with the art and artists. I hosted an open mic in the museum where I asked people to take inspiration from a work of art. It was wonderful to see how art inspires more art, which I think embodies the culture of the arts at Grinnell.

Library

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Cozy study spaces, kind librarians, and more resources than you could dream of — these are the heart of Burling Library. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine once called it the “comfiest” library in the country. There’s a place for everyone, whether it's in the jungle gyms of desks with a ladder to the top and a cave inside, bean bag chairs, group meeting rooms, or the bicycle desk. Burling is also home to a small gallery and the College’s special collections — historic documents, art, and objects available for study. There are so many hidden gems in the special collections. Once, I even found the speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave when he came to Grinnell.

Downtown Grinnell

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Grinnell combines the intellectual buzz of a college town with the friendliness that defines our close-knit community. Popular spots include Saints Rest Coffee House, the Strand Movie Theater, the Grinnell Arts Center, and the Pioneer Bookshop, as well as the Makerspace. Great spots for food include Prairie Canary, Relish, Pagliai’s, GrinCity Bakery, Los Girasoles, and Chuong Garden. There are also some great events such as seasonal farmer’s markets, Friday Fest, and Music in the Park. I love going to the Makerspace, where you can do everything from make stickers to sow to 3D print. Sometimes, I’ve hosted song writing circles in the performance space there!

Mears Cottage

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Mears Cottage, once an all-women's dormitory, has housed many offices and departments over the years. It is currently the home base for the offices of Campus Safety and Human Resources.

Disability Services and Classrooms

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Steiner Hall was named after Edward A. Steiner, a professor and mentor of Harry L. Hopkins '12 and other Grinnellians who served in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal administration. Steiner Hall is home to faculty offices, classrooms, and the Accessibility and Disability Resources Office.

Religious Life

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The Center for Religion, Spirituality, and Social Justice (CRSSJ) is an inclusive space that connects students with religious and spiritual organizations both on- and off-campus. In addition to Herrick Chapel, our non-denominational worship space, the CRSSJ supports many religious traditions and includes Hindu and Muslim worship spaces, a footbath, a meditation room, a multi-religious library, and the Chaplain’s Office. Chaverim, our Jewish student organization, also utilizes the CRSSJ. Many of my friends follow the Islamic faith, and one morning during Ramadan, I joined them before sunrise in the CRSSJ, where the staff had purchased halal food for the students to prepare in the kitchen so they could eat at the traditional time, before the dining hall opened.

Chapel

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Each fall, the incoming first-years gather at Herrick Chapel for the Medallion Ceremony during which they learn about the College's founding and receive a medallion. Herrick Chapel hosts optional religious services, as well as non-religious lectures and concerts. I associate the Chapel with a strong sense of community. I remember looking around the room at the Medallion Ceremony and feeling excited that I'd spend the next four years with the people around me. And when the pandemic began in the U.S., I remember sitting in Herrick for a town hall. It was a difficult time, but it felt like we were all experiencing that difficulty in community.

Historic Spaces

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Goodnow Hall is the oldest building on campus and has a castle-like quality about it.

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