Beardshear Hall is an administration building at Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 located on Beardshear Road. The building was constructed in 1906 and was built completely out of stone and brick. Today, Beardshear Hall holds the following offices:

• President
• Vice-President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Registrar
  Registrar (academic)
  In education outside the United Kingdom, a registrar or registrary is an official in an academic institution who handles student records. Typically, a registrar processes registration requests, schedules classes and maintains class lists, enforces the rules for entering or leaving classes, and...
  
  
• Student financial aid
• Provost
  Provost (education)
  A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
  
  

History

When a fire destroyed the "Old Main" building in 1902, it was determined that a new administration building was needed and the location of Old Main was the best location. As a result of the fire to Old Main, fireproofing the new building was a high priority. Fireproof buff Bedford stones were used extensively in the construction of the new Central Building. Massive scagliola

Scagliola

Scagliola , is a technique for producing stucco columns, sculptures, and other architectural elements that resemble inlays in marble and semi-precious stones...

 columns were used in the interior, columns so like marble that even experts were deceived. The building materials were so fireproof that only the hardwood furniture was capable of burning.

The Central Building originally housed the Office of the President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

, the Departments of English, Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, Botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

, History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, Modern Languages, and Elocution

Elocution

Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, elocution was one of the five core disciplines of pronunciation, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper...

, the Office of the Secretary and Treasurer, and the Office of the Board of Trustees. In 1938 the building was renamed Beardshear Hall, after William Beardshear, the president of the institution during the planning and construction stages of Central Building. By the mid 1970s all classes in Beardshear Hall had been relocated to other buildings on campus, leaving the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost, and the Office of the Vice President for Business as the most prominent offices in the building. Other offices directly impacting student life still located in Beardshear hall include the Office of Student Financial Aid

Financial aid

Student financial aid in the United States is funding intended to help students pay education expenses including tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, etc. for education at a college, university, or private school. General governmental funding for public education is not called...

 and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.