Atchison, Kansas

Ferrell Academic Center

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The $17.9 million Ferrell Academic Center, completed in 2012, was funded entirely by donations, including a capstone gift from Jim and Elizabeth Ferrell. The generosity and sacrifices of many donors and the prayers of the Memorare Army made the building possible.

The building has been in full operation since the Fall of 2012, housing classrooms, several academic departments, and administrative offices.

“This academic building makes clear what this college was founded on and where we’re going,” Minnis said. “Our mission to educate men and women in a community of faith and scholarship is our foundation, and we are building one of America’s great Catholic colleges. ”

The Benedictines transformed Western Civilization through commerce, schools, theology and philosophy. The new building will feature those key disciplines, providing:

  • A major upgrade for the School of Business and the Education Department, which encompass the college’s most popular majors.
  • The most state-of-the-art facilities in the nation for the Theology and Philosophy Departments.
  • Upgraded and expanded meeting and conferencing facilities.
  • The first new LEED-certified educational building (green) on a college or university campus in the state of Kansas.

Following a tradition that dates back more than 150 years to the founding of the institution, Benedictine College officials placed a blessed Medal of St. Benedict in the foundation of the new Academic Center under construction on eastern edge of the academic quad.

The Ferrell Academic Center interior features many symbols of Benedictine College, including four pillars in the rotunda, the college seal mounted on the building and featured on the floor, and statues of Saints Benedict and Scholastica. The exterior of the building architecturally quotes from other buildings on campus, including the archway of Elizabeth Hall, the peaked roofs of the Abbey and St. Benedict Hall’s frontispiece.

Ferrell Academic Center will offer beautiful new spaces for presentations, receptions, and dinners. The building boasts multiple lounges, a coffee shop, seminar rooms, and one of the best views of the Missouri River in all of Atchison. A multi-purpose room will serve as the ideal space for meetings and small conferences, and will be able to accommodate receptions and banquets of up to 200 people.