C Buildings

Campbell Hall
Canfield Hall
Celeste Laboratory for Chemistry
Cockins Hall
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Conaway House and Ross House
Converse Hall
Cunz Hall

Campbell Hall

Campbell Hall, completed in December 1916, was built to house the rapidly expanding home economics department. At one time, half of female undergraduates took classes in the department.

In 1921, the Board of Trustees named the building for Elizabeth Owens Campbell, wife of former Ohio Governor James F. Campbell. An addition was completed in September 1962.

Campbell Hall houses the College of Education and Human Ecology’s Dept of Human Sciences’ programs in Fashion & Retail Studies, Family Financial Services, Hospitality Management, Human Development and Family Science and Human Nutrition. It also houses the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Campbell Hall

Canfield Hall 

Canfield Hall is actually named for an entire family: Former The Ohio State President James Hulme Canfield, his wife, Flavia, who founded the University Women’s Club, and their daughter, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a best-selling author and educational activist of her time.

James Canfield was also Ohio State’s first president to have grown up in a city. He was born in Delaware, Ohio, in 1847, but his family soon moved to New York City, where he grew up and attended school. He briefly practiced law in Michigan before taking a teaching position at the University of Kansas in 1877, which he held for 14 years. In 1891 Canfield accepted the Chancellorship at the University of Nebraska, and four years later—on April 11, 1895—he was elected President of Ohio State.

One of Canfield’s first acts as president was to establish in 1895 a lab near Lake Erie (the precursor to Stone Lab). Under his leadership, enrollment surpassed 1,000 (1897), and the power plant and armory were built. The University also added Domestic Science, Commerce and Administration courses to the curriculum.

Canfield resigned his post in 1899 to become the Librarian at Columbia University. He died in 1909.

On June 10, 1940, Canfield Hall was named as a tribute to him, his wife, and their daughter.

As one of the older buildings on campus, it was constructed in stages. The original building project included the second and final addition to Mack Hall and the first unit of the Women’s Dining Hal, now known as Kennedy Commons. Additions were later made during the construction of Paterson and Bradley Halls, and it was reported completed by The Lantern in September of 1954. The catch was that beds had yet to arrive, so students first slept on mattresses on the floor.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Canfield Hall

Celeste Laboratory for Chemistry 

The Celeste Laboratory of Chemistry was built to replace the “Sawtooth” portion of McPherson Chemical Laboratory.

Construction was completed in 1986 on the facility, which was equipped classroom, office, and laboratory space. On April 7, 1995, the Lab was named for former Ohio Governor Richard F. Celeste, to honor his 20 years’ worth of service to the state, including as governor from 1983 to 1991.

Born in Cleveland, Celeste attended Yale University and continued his education at Oxford University in England on a Rhodes scholarship. He went on to join the Peace Corps, then served as an executive assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to India. He entered politics in 1970 as a Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He served two terms, then became lieutenant governor. He was then appointed by President Carter as Director of the Peace Corps. He became governor in 1982, an office he held until 1991. President Clinton appointed him Ambassador to India in 1997a post he held until 2001.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Celeste Laboratory for Chemistry

Cockins Hall 

Cockins Hall was completed and in use by 1930. It was known as the Pharmacy and Bacteriology Building until it was officially renamed Edith Cockins Hall by the Board of Trustees on March 9, 1967.

Cockins received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State in 1894 and went on to become the University’s first registrar in 1897, giving 49 years of service to Ohio State.

The building was designed by University Architect Joseph Bradford and is an example of Neoclassical architecture.

Cockins Hall has housed the School of Mathematics and Geodetic Science as well as the College of Pharmacy. It now houses the Department of Statistics.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Cockins Hall

Comprehensive Cancer Center 

Cancer research has been conducted at Ohio State since the 1940s, but it wasn’t until 1960 that the Cancer Research Center was built, at a cost of $3.6 million.

In 1976 the National Cancer Institute tapped it to become part of a national network of cancer research centers. Currently, the center is composed of a network of seven programs involving hundreds of scientists from 14 colleges at the university. The center is only one of seven in the country funded by the NCI to conduct phase I and phase II clinical trials for new anti-cancer drugs.

In 2009, NetJets, a Columbus-based private aircraft company, donated $12.5 million to establish the annual Pelotonia bicycle ride, whose proceeds go to the Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. The inaugural event raised more than $4 million.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Comprehensive Cancer Center

Conaway House and Ross House    

Located on the top level of Morrill Tower, Conaway House was named to honor the former Dean of Women, Christine Y. Conaway.

Dean Conaway joined the University staff in 1937 as assistant to the dean of the College of the Arts and Sciences. She was appointed Dean of Women in 1944. Dean Conaway earned both of her degrees—a bachelor’s in 1924 and a master of arts in 1942—from Ohio State.

Located on the lower level of Morrill Tower, Ross House was named to honor Mylin H. Ross in May 1977. Ross was a former Dean of Men.

Ross graduated from Ohio State with a bachelor of science in education in 1931 and a master’s degree in 1943. After his graduation in 1943 he joined the U.S. Navy and spent two years serving as a gunnery officer in the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1945, he returned to Columbus to become an elementary school principal. A few years later, Ross joined the Ohio State staff as the assistant dean of men, working closely with the university’s fraternities.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Conaway House and Ross House

Converse Hall

Converse Hall was built in 1941 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to house field artillery. An additional two stories were added in 1943, and it was called the ROTC Building or Military Science Shop for the next 30 years, when it received its official name of George L. Converse Hall. 

Converse, or “Commy” as he was referred to by students, came to Ohio State in 1899 to serve as Commandant to Cadets.  He served as head of the military department for 18 years.

From 1980 to 1995, the building was home to the University Archives. Converse Hall continues to house Ohio State’s ROTC program.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Converse Hall

Cunz Hall

Cunz Hall was named “The Dieter Cunz Hall of Languages” on April 10, 1969, to honor the former head of the German Department. Various language departments occupied the building until they were moved to Hagerty Hall in 2004.

Cunz Hall, which opened in November 1969, is an example of the modernist style of architecture, characterized by its lack of ornamentation which lends it a “sculptural quality.”

In 2010 the building, now home to the College of Public Health, began undergoing a major renovation– the first LEED-certified renovation project on campus. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and means a building has been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.) The project was completed in summer 2011.

more information:
John H. Herrick Archives: Cunz Hall