About the Alumni Center

The main entrance to the 30,520-square-foot McGovern Alumni Center is oriented on axis with the NDSU President’s House. The entrance is flanked by two 12-foot-wide by 9-foot-high brick reliefs of stampeding bison carved by Grand Forks artist Katie McCleery. A bison weathervane, donated by the Building Committee Chairman Warren Diederich, stands above the entrance cupola.

The first floor of the McGovern Alumni Center houses the Coordinator of Customer Care, the Alumni Association offices, and Crary Lounge, which is a traditional wood-paneled lounge with a fireplace and wet bar that can accommodate up to 25 people for a event.

The McGovern Alumni Center’s two-story atrium, which is designed to seat 130 people in a banquet setting, was officially renamed the Diederich Atrium in 2004. Overhead skylights, large windows, and glass doors, which provide access to a brick-paved terrace and landscaped courtyard with pergola and a gazebo, all shed daylight into the atrium.

The names of donors, alumni, and other special guests engraved on the ceramic tile floor are also featured in the Diederich Atrium.

The second floor is reached either by a monumental staircase or an elevator, which opens at the Hendrickson Lounge that overlooks the Diederich Atrium. The Stegner Terrace, a small exterior balcony, provides a great view of the NDSU campus. The second floor is also home to the Development Foundation offices; the Stenehjem Executive Conference Room, which has high-backed leather chairs and a large mahogany conference table that seats 16 and overlooks the courtyard; and the Klefstad Conference Room, which seats 30 and can be divided into two 410-square-foot conference rooms. The Dawson Gallery, which is just outside the Klefstad Conference Room, houses an antique gun collection.

The lower level of the facility houses the Accounting Office, the NDSU Calling Center, and Reimers Conference Room, which is the McGovern Alumni Center’s largest conference room (1,492 square feet) that can seat up to 100 and be divided into two rooms. Stone-lined areaways bring natural light into the lower level conference rooms and offices.

The McGovern Alumni Center was dedicated on Oct. 8, 1999, and the building was dedicated on Oct. 6, 2012, when it officially became known as the Harry D. McGovern Alumni Center.