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About the McAllister Building

Centrally located between Old Main and the HUB Student Center, the McAllister Building is the home of the Department of Mathematics at Penn State. Mac Hall was constructed in 1904, and originally occupied as a men's dormitory. In 1915 it became a women's dormitory, and was later converted to an academic building. In addition to the Math Department, the McAllister Building also houses the on-campus U.S. Post Office, which is the official home of the zip code 16802 (University Park).

As a college dorm, McAllister probably never saw as much wear-and-tear as it did in its later life as a departmental and classroom building. In 2004 an $8-million renovation project was begun, and the new McAllister Building was re-opened in the summer of 2005. It now houses the Offices for Undergraduate Studies and Graduate Studies, as well as the faculty and students of the department.

The centerpiece of McAllister's new first floor is the stainless-steel sculpture entitled Octacube, designed by Professor Adrian Ocneanu, and executed by the machinists and welders of Penn State's Engineering Services Shop. The work presents a three-dimensional projection of a four-dimensional solid object, and was sponsored by Jill Grashof Anderson, a 1965 graduate of the department. It is dedicated to the memory of her husband, Kermit Anderson—also a 1965 mathematics graduate from Penn State—who was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. More information is available at the Eberly College's News site.

The next time you are visiting Penn State we invite you to stop by the new home of the Department of Mathematics, home to our hard-working graduate students and faculty!

• Read President Spanier's speech New Life for McAllister Building, from September 10, 2005.