Name that Building: Ronan Hall
Since Ronan Hall opened in 1955 as a library, it has served as the home for Center for Cultural and Natural History, the Department of Teacher Education and the Affirmative Action office, among many other purposes.
The building was named after Bertha Ronan, a respected campus figure who served as the Dean of Women from 1918 until 1940. When she was elected as dean by the state board, “the whole school went wild in appreciation of their choice,” as written in the 1918 issue of Central Michigan University’s yearbook. Ronan was also a professor in the department of physical education.
Ronan graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Columbia University in New York and received a teacher’s certificate from Ypsilanti. She organized a voluntary nurse corp during World War I and founded the sorority Pi Sigma Kappa in Ypsilanti. She went on to assist the installation of Pi Sigma Kappa at CMU in 1940. She served as patroness to the sorority, which is now known on campus as Sigma Kappa.
The CMU sorority didn’t start as a Greek organization, though. It began as the Ronan Round Table, which functioned as a cultural literary society and was named in honor of Ronan. In 1940, the group transitioned to a campus sorority when Greek life was allowed back on campus following a brief ban.
The building and its name have a bit of a confusing history. Before Ronan Hall was where it is located now on north campus, it was a residence hall elsewhere.
The old Ronan Hall was demolished in 1970, and at that point, the new Ronan was constructed as the Park Library, named after Charles V. Park, who came to CMU as the head librarian in 1931.
After the current Park Library opened in 1956, Ronan passed through the roles of Center for Cultural and Natural History, the university’s television studio, the department of teacher education and professional development, the Affirmative Action Office and the College of Education and Human Services.
Even now, the building isn’t limited to one office or department. Career Services, the Center for Academic Advising and the Office of Study Abroad all reside in Ronan, in addition to one of CMU’s two main computer labs.
