If you have family or other visitors coming into town for the graduation weekend, they might be interested in seeing a little piece of the place where you’ve spent so much time. Here’s a suggested itinerary for a campus tour. In addition to these places, don’t forget to point out the department you are getting your major from.
1. Knight Library
The Knight Library is the largest library on campus and houses humanities, social sciences, music, and business collections. It also has the University’s special collections, maps, microforms and government documents. The library was originally designed by Ellis F. Lawrence (the first dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and the eponym of Lawrence Hall) in 1937 and was renovated in 1950, 1966 and 1992.
2. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
After walking around the perimeter of the building’s brick facade, which dates back to 1932, take a moment out of your tour and browse through the recently renovated display spaces showcasing American, European, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese art. Current exhibitions include “The Rose of No One: Colette Brunschwig’s Collages for Paul Celan,” 17 untitled works displayed in conjunction with the University’s “Witnessing Genocide: Representation and Responsibility” symposium. “Images from BLACK ROCK: Photographs by Peter Goin” is photographic works of northwest Nevada’s Black Rock country.
3. Natural History Museum
On the far east end of campus, the Museum of Natural and Cultural History is worth a quick tour. Don’t miss the world’s oldest pair of shoes or the skeleton of a sabertooth cat. Other interesting exhibits chronicle the 15,000-year cultural history of the Northwest and its 200-million-year geological history. The museum’s exhibits explore the archaeology and fossil history of Oregon, animals, plants, environmental topics and traditional human cultures, according the museum’s Web site.
4. Lillis Business Complex
The Lillis Business Complex is the home of the Lundquist College of Business. Even those who have never taken a business class should walk through the building to take in the open atrium and the wind sculpture at the rear entrance. The complex opened in 2003 and was designed to be environmentally friendly. For example, Lillis contains photovoltaic panels, which generate a portion of the electricity the complex uses.
5. Willamette Hall
Stop in to see the home of the University’s science departments. Just through the door to Klamath Hall, you’ll find a periodic table of elements that displays examples of each element. Make sure you go around the perimeter of the building and look at the heads jutting out from the building. Each face represents a famous scientist.
6. Johnson Hall
The building that houses the University’s administration, Johnson Hall is also recognizable from the 1978 movie “Animal House.”
7. Pioneer Statue
Created by Alexander Phimster Proctor the Pioneer statue has been on campus since 1919. It is rumored to be the model for Jebediah Springfield, the statue in Homer Simpson’s hometown in “The Simpsons.”
8. Pioneer Cemetery
During the day, the Pioneer Cemetery is a lush, shady oasis on the edge of campus. Take a stroll through and look at the weathered old headstones, some of which are more than a hundred years old. The Cemetery was founded in 1873 by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.