Campus Community and Facilities

"Berea’s campus is student-centered. Student activity spaces, classrooms, laboratories, and the library are all within a five-minute walk of the College’s residence halls—home to nearly all Berea students. Labor Program job sites are within easy walking distance. Outstanding facilities, from a campus-wide computer network to an athletic and wellness center, offer access to the latest in technology and equipment."

Situated where the Bluegrass meets the Cumberland Mountains on the “Berea ridge” in south-central Kentucky, Berea’s 140-acre campus is far more than a collection of beautiful and historic buildings. It is the home of a unique and vital community shaped by the people who live here and the ideals to which they subscribe.

Most of the buildings on campus reflect the character, history, and grandeur of the College, while also demonstrating the power of state-of-the-art technologies to enhance teaching and learning. Berea’s traditional and modern architecture blends well. The sidewalks that crisscross the campus quadrangles offer intersections where Bereans meet, chat, and come to know and learn from one another.

The Crossroads Complex is designed as a central location for student services, recreation, and educational support programs. Fairchild Hall, the oldest building on campus, was the first brick building erected in the region. Today it serves as a residence hall and home to several student and administrative services. In the Alumni Memorial Building, the College’s social center, are multipurpose recreation and game rooms, attractive student/faculty dining facilities, student-organization offices, the Black Cultural Center, lounges and meeting spaces, and a prayer room. The hub of the Crossroads Complex, Woods-Penniman Hall, originally constructed as a women’s gym, houses the Francis and Louise Hutchins Center for International Education, the College Post Office, Student Government, The Café (with indoor and outdoor dining), The Commons, and the Student Life Office. Facilities are open around the clock for individual and group study.

The three-story Hutchins Library serves as Berea’s center of research and computer technology. It features small conference rooms, group study spaces, individual carrels, and scattered open seating areas. Through the computerized library catalog, patrons can access any of the 345,000 published holdings or 1,300 current periodicals. Additional resources are available through the multiple computerized indexes of journal articles and the OCLC national bibliographic and interlibrary loan cooperative. Sources of historic information specific to the Appalachian region are housed on the lower level. Among its treasures are many rare manuscripts, photographs, and books; the College’s archives; the Weather-Hammond Appalachian Collection of publications; and the Shedd Memorial Collection of Abraham Lincoln materials.

At the hub of Berea’s academic life are Draper, Frost, the Hall Science Building, and other academic buildings. Draper houses classrooms and 60 faculty offices for six departments. Originally built in 1937, the renovated Draper includes the use of materials, design principles, and monitoring equipment that make it a model of sustainable and environmentally sound renovation while retaining the original character of the building. Frost houses four departments in the humanities and social sciences; the Hall Science Building houses the departments of natural science and accompanying laboratories, collections, a Foucault Pendulum, and a planetarium. Similarly, the Vincent Goldthwait Agricultural Building provides animal and plant laboratories essential to the study of agriculture and natural resources. Berea’s center for theatre is the Ross Jelkyl Drama Center, containing the McGaw and Musser theatres and the Theatre Laboratory studios. The spacious and highly functional Danforth Industrial Arts Building is the home of Berea’s Technology and Industrial Arts programs. Presser Hall, renovated in 2003, houses the campus concert hall (Gray Auditorium) and the offices and rehearsal facilities of the Music Department. The Rogers Memorial Art Building, connected to the Demitrie Berea Gallery (2003), and the Traylor Building (1977) all provide art galleries that display visiting exhibits and the College’s own fine arts collection, as well as classrooms, Art Department faculty offices, and studios. The Department of Child and Family Studies resides in the Emery Building, which dates back to 1924, while the Education Studies Department is housed in Knapp Hall. The Harrison-McLain Home Management House serves as a laboratory facility for family resource management. Nursing students and faculty congregate in the Hafer-Gibson Nursing Building.

Berea’s Physical Education Department, its 16 varsity athletic teams, and an array of recreational and intramural sports programs call the Seabury Center home. This regionally recognized facility offers gymnasia, an indoor pool, racquetball courts, indoor track, weight room, wellness center, state-of-the-art classrooms, and multipurpose spaces. Its main arena seats 2,000 for basketball games and 2,800 for stage events, and hosts the annual Spring commencement ceremony. Just outside are athletic fields, an all-weather track, and 11 tennis courts, five of which are lighted.

Berea College Health Service provides office/outpatient care, health maintenance, and referral for inpatient care at St. Joseph Berea Hospital or elsewhere when necessary. Those eligible for service are full-time students and employees, as well as employee spouses and dependents aged 3-23. The Health Service staff includes two physicians, one nurse practitioner, two certified medical assistants, a receptionist, and an office manager.

Most College-wide events take place in Phelps Stokes Chapel, which students built between 1904 and 1906. The administration building, Lincoln Hall, built in the 1880s as a classroom and library facility, is included in the National Register of Historic Places. The completion of a major renovation project in Lincoln Hall has included the addition of a Student Service Center, which brought together the former Student Accounts and Cashier offices, as well as provided students with a central access area for many functions of the Academic Services and Student Financial Aid Services offices.

Significant learning takes place in the College’s residence halls and residential houses. As students build and sustain relationships with roommates, hallmates, and classmates, they hone their interpersonal skills. Life-long friendships flourish in a variety of residential environments available at Berea, ranging from home-like facilities to traditional residence halls. Students who are married and/or have dependent children may be offered family housing in the College’s Ecological Village.

On the outskirts of campus lies additional acreage owned by the College. Farm land, including an experimental farm, covers 1,400 acres, and the 7,000-acre Fay Forest serves as a watershed for the College and the town of Berea.