University of Minnesota to officially dedicate Kenneth H. Keller Hall Oct. 27

Keller was U of M’s president 1985-88

Contacts:
Daniel Wolter, University News Service, unews@umn.edu, (612) 624-5551

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/20/2010) —The University of Minnesota will host a special dedication ceremony open to the public to mark the naming of Kenneth H. Keller Hall from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, at Kenneth H. Keller Hall, Room 3-180, 200 Union St. S.E., Minneapolis. Speakers will include former university president and chemical engineering professor Keller, U of M Board of Regents Chair Clyde Allen, University President Robert Bruininks, College of Science and Engineering Dean Steven Crouch and former chairman and CEO of ADC Telecommunications Charles Denny, Jr.

The University has a long and proud tradition of honoring past presidents by naming a building after them. The University of Minnesota Board of Regents earlier this year had approved the naming the Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Building on the east bank campus of the university’s Twin Cities campus in honor of Keller. The building was completed during Keller’s presidency. The renaming has been effective as of July 1.

Keller joined the University of Minnesota chemical engineering faculty in 1964. He subsequently became chair of the Faculty Consultative Committee, acting dean of the Graduate School, and vice president for academic affairs. In 1984, Keller was chosen to be acting president, and in 1985 was named University of Minnesota president, serving the university in that role until 1988.

After two years at Princeton University and seven years as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Keller returned to the University of Minnesota in 1996 as the Charles M. Denny, Jr. Professor of Science, Technology, and Public Policy in the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Keller was designated President Emeritus by the Board of Regents in 2006 and is currently director of the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a multidisciplinary graduate program in international affairs enrolling students from 35 to 40 countries each year.

Kenneth H. Keller Hall is one of the University’s largest academic buildings at more than 336,000 square feet, and is home to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the University's Nanofabrication Center, all within the university's College of Science and Engineering.