The Reed College campus was established in 1910 on a tract of land known as Crystal Springs Farm; it was part of the Ladd Estate, which was formed in the 1870s from original land claims.
The great lawns and open spaces of Reed’s 116-acre campus include some of the largest and finest specimen trees in the region. At the center of the campus is the 26-acre natural area known as the canyon, a diverse wooded upland surrounding a beautiful spring-fed lake. A walking trail around the lake provides numerous opportunities for observation of migratory birds, native fish, beaver, otter, and other native wildlife.
The founding trustees and the first president who administered the bequest of Simeon and Amanda Reed had the rare opportunity of building from a new vision, and their first architect, A.E. Doyle, developed a strong thematic design in brick and limestone with intricate detail. Later buildings featured Northwest timber-style construction with exposed beams. Doyle’s early vision is one from which the college has sometimes departed, but it is reaffirmed today in many of the college’s newer buildings and renovation projects.
Aspen Residence Hall
As part of the Grove of residence halls, Aspen is a multiuse building with student housing, a multipurpose classroom, and the Canyon Cafe, which offers food and drink options on the north side of the Reed canyon.
Educational Technology Center
The educational technology center (ETC) houses a variety of resources including the computing help desk, student computing labs, technology-enriched classrooms, faculty offices, a digital media lab, a videoconference room (VCR), a computer store, a hardware services shop, Audio Visual Services, Information Technology staff offices, and student lounge areas.
Eliot Hall
Eliot Hall, a large Tudor Gothic building of brick, limestone, and concrete, was one of the first two original 1912 buildings on campus. It was named for Thomas Lamb Eliot, the first chairman of the board of trustees of Reed College, a Portland civic leader and Unitarian minister.
Eliot Hall is home to the president’s office and other staff offices such as admission, business, college relations, financial aid, registrar, student services, and international programs. The building also houses faculty offices and mailboxes, classrooms, print services, and the stately, paneled chapel, which provides a setting for music performances, lectures, and special events.
Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library
The library building was constructed in 1930 and expanded in 1963, 1989, and 2002. It was seismically renovated in 2023 with additional faculty offices, a large classroom, and ADA-accessible restrooms. It houses centralized library collections, library instruction classrooms, individual and group study spaces, an instructional media center, the college archives and special collections, and the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery.
Open stacks, study desks, and group study spaces are located throughout the building. Computer workstations, computer classrooms, and wireless connectivity for personal laptops and other devices enable students to use electronic resources as well as print collections in support of independent study and research.
For more complete information on the library building, collections, and services, see the “Educational Program” section of this catalog.
Gray Campus Center
The Gray Campus Center is the center of the college. Named in honor of John and Betty Gray, it was constructed in 1965, with renovations and the addition of Kaul Auditorium in 1997. The 6,000-square-foot Kaul Auditorium is designed for multimedia presentations, musical performances, lectures, meetings, dinners, and special events.
The associated buildings include the recently remodeled dining hall, meeting rooms, student union (1921), bookstore, convenience store, mail services, game room, and student organization spaces.
The Reed College bookstore is an institutional, nonprofit store that stocks all required and recommended textbooks and features an in-depth selection of general trade books. Other items include school, office, and dorm supplies; T-shirts and other Reed wear; a wide variety of Reed memorabilia; greeting cards; and a broad range of snack foods and drinks. Special orders are encouraged. The bookstore accepts orders via the web (bookstore.reed.edu). The bookstore accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express, cash, and checks; in addition, students can set up a bookstore account, for which a statement will be sent to the parent or student at the end of each month. Store hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. (hours vary when classes are not in session).
Homer’s Hut, the convenience store in the front area of the bookstore, is open daily from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on during the academic year and offers a variety of health foods, not-so-healthy snacks, beverages, ice cream, and a basic selection of health and beauty aids.
The student union, with a seating capacity of 400, is completely student operated and is used primarily for student-run activities. Its budget, including the manager’s salary, comes from student activity fees.
Performing Arts Facilities
The 78,000-square-foot Performing Arts Building provides teaching, practice, and performance spaces, as well as faculty offices and classrooms for music, theatre, and dance. Located adjacent to the Kaul auditorium, the Performing Arts Building is host to many musical, theatrical, and dance presentations.
The Diver Studio Theatre is a versatile performance space with a seating capacity of 200. It is used for both faculty-directed productions and student thesis shows. The Blackbox Theatre is easily adapted to many configurations and seats up to 100. There is a large dance studio with floor-to-ceiling windows, music choral rehearsal space, four classrooms, a large shared performance lab, a suite of music practice rooms, and shop and support spaces for production work. Each music practice room is designed with acoustically isolated floors, walls, and ceilings. The building includes a performing arts resource center (PARC), staffed by a librarian and an instructional technologist, that provides study spaces and specialized information resources and technology to support academic work in the performing arts.
At the center of the building, the atrium provides gathering space with natural light for productions and serves as a stage for presentations and special events. The new facility represents an exciting opportunity for collaboration among the music, theatre, and dance departments, and provides a welcoming gathering place for the entire Reed community.
Adjacent to the west parking lot, the building is easily accessed by visitors to campus. The elevators and walkways provide access to Kaul Auditorium, Gray Campus Center, and the grounds leading to the center of campus.
Greenwood, on the north edge of the west parking lot, contains performance space for dance performance with an open floor area, tiered seating for 150, and an updated control room. On the lower level are the offices for conference and events planning and dance support space. An elevator provides accessibility to all areas.
Research Reactor Facility
The Reed College Research Reactor facility consists of a 250-kW TRIGA Mark I nuclear reactor, a radiochemistry laboratory, and a Cs-137 Shepherd Source. Installed in 1968, the Reed reactor is actively used for student research and instruction, and is inherently safe in its design.
Reed’s reactor is the only reactor in the country staffed primarily by undergraduate students. The Reactor Operator Training Program is open to first- and second-year students of any major in the fall. A companion reactor seminar course (CHEM 010 ) is open to all students. Fifteen students are selected to continue with the program in the spring. Each year, approximately 15 students receive their reactor operator’s license and approximately 10 students receive their senior reactor operator’s license.
The reactor is used for Reed College science courses, independent student research, and senior thesis research. It is also used by high schools, colleges, and research institutions for tours, demonstrations, and research.
Research at the Reed reactor is done primarily via neutron activation analysis, which is an analysis method that allows experimenters to determine trace element concentrations in biological, chemical, geological, and environmental samples. Other areas of research include reactor modeling, model validations, and investigation into the effects of radiation on biological samples and different materials.
Science Facilities
The science laboratories at Reed are among the best equipped of any undergraduate college in the United States. These include the L.E. Griffin Memorial Biology Building, the A.A. Knowlton Laboratory of Physics, and the Arthur F. Scott Laboratory of Chemistry.
More important than the equipment itself is the philosophy of its use. While sophisticated equipment in university laboratories is often available only to graduate students and faculty, Reed students have complete access to all equipment. Even the reactor and computer facilities are run on an “open shop” basis, available to any student who has demonstrated the skills necessary to meet licensing requirements.
The tradition of ready access allows Reed students to become familiar with instrumentation techniques not commonly available to undergraduates and how they can be used to address scientific questions. It also gives them experience and a distinct advantage in dealing with the more advanced scientific environments found in graduate school, professional school, or industry.
Detailed descriptions of science facilities and equipment are available from the admission office or the relevant academic department. The web address for Reed’s academic departments is reed.edu/academics.html.
Sports Center - Athletics, Fitness, and Outdoor Facilities
The Aubrey R. Watzek Sports Center houses an indoor pool, three squash courts, locker rooms with saunas, a weight room, a cardio room, a martial arts room, a dance studio, an area for outdoor equipment, a center for planning outdoor excursions, and a demonstration climbing wall. An ADA-compliant changing room and shower provides direct pool access. A major construction project scheduled for completion in fall 2024 will add a full-court basketball gymnasium, two multipurpose fitness and wellness rooms, an expanded lounge area, and remodeled locker rooms consisting of men’s, women’s and nonspecified-gender changing areas, restrooms, and saunas. Overall improved ADA accessibility has been built into all aspects of this renovation, making all areas accessible.
Other facilities include a hiking path around Reed Lake, a trail for jogging and walking, and fields for soccer, rugby, Ultimate Frisbee, and softball. Additionally, the college owns a ski cabin on Mt. Hood and vans for transporting students.
Studio Art Facilities
Reed’s studio art building was constructed in 1980 and was renovated and enlarged in 2001. It provides space for instruction in the fine arts, including studios designed for drawing, painting, printmaking, letterpress, bookmaking, sculpture, photography, digital media, and ceramics, as well as seminar, projection, critique, and exhibition spaces. The building also provides studio offices for art faculty and private studios for senior art thesis students. Support facilities include a digital media lab, a photography darkroom, a laser and 3D printing room, a woodshop, a covered outdoor welding area, a casting room, and an electric kiln shed.
Related facilities on campus include a student-operated print shop and darkroom in the student union, the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, and a gallery in the Vollum lounge.
Trillium Residence Hall
This 65,000-square-foot building opened in fall 2019 and houses up to 180 students. The building received a Platinum LEED certification for energy efficiency and sustainable construction process and materials. High-efficiency windows, insulation, LED lighting, heating, and a photovoltaic solar array on the roof are just some of the measures used to earn the Platinum rating. This building also hosts a multipurpose, flexible classroom.
Vollum College Center and Lecture Hall
The Vollum College Center is named for the late Howard Vollum ‘36, Reed trustee emeritus, and his wife, Jean. Constructed in 1980, it features a 400-seat lecture hall used by members of the Reed community and visiting speakers as well as conference-style classrooms, faculty and staff offices, and a lounge-gallery.
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