Opened in 2002, Hatfield Hall houses a 602-seat theater, an alumni center and offices for development, external affairs and alumni affairs.
The state-of-the-art theater replaced the Moench Hall auditorium, which had been used as a performing arts venue for 76 years. The building also includes rehearsal and practice rooms for student groups, storage for music and theatrical equipment, and a shop area for set construction.
Unique characteristics of the building include:
- Rose-Hulman’s school seal is carved into the Alumni Center’s limestone fireplace
- The office wing and theater are actually separate buildings for sound control purposes
- Paved with Minnesota granite, the lobby floor has embedded heating coils for winter heating
- The rotunda housing the Alumni Center is made from Indiana limestone
- African Cherry wood from a single tree was used to panel the first floor and balcony
- Hatfield Hall’s Renaissance R-380 organ was donated by the late Alfred R. Schmidt, emeritus professor of mathematics, for whom the Al Schmidt Concert at White Chapel was named.
Hatfield Hall was funded by a $14 million gift from 1984 alumnus Mike Hatfield and his wife, Deborah, and is named in honor of his parents, Larry and Pat. A large portrait of Larry and Pat hangs near the Alumni Center.
Mike Hatfield is an electrical engineering and mathematical economics alumnus. He is the president and CEO of Cyan, Inc.
