Trustees re-name building in honor of Monat

In recognition of his decades of service and support to Northern Illinois University, the Board of Trustees last week named a building in honor of former NIU President William Monat.

The board voted unanimously at its Thursday, Dec. 9, meeting to re-name the building located at the corner of Third and Locust streets in downtown DeKalb as the William Monat Building.

Monat becomes the fourth NIU president to have a building named in his honor.

Williston Hall was named in honor of the university’s first president, John Williston Cook, who served from 1899 until 1919. Adams Hall was named to honor Karl L. Adams, the university’s fourth president, who served from 1929 until 1948. The Holmes Student Center was named in honor of Leslie A. Holmes, the university's fifth president, who served from 1949 until 1967.

“I am delighted that the board has chosen to recognize Dr. Monat in this fashion,” said NIU President John Peters. “Bill has dedicated much of his life to this institution, as a member of the faculty, as provost, as president and as chancellor of the Illinois Board of Regents. He worked tirelessly in each of those positions for the improvement of NIU. Bill helped mold NIU into the outstanding institution that it is today, so it seems only fitting to bestow upon him such a lasting honor.”

For his part, Monat was surprised and moved by the honor.

“As I told the board, this doesn’t usually happen until you are dead,” quipped the university’s eighth president, who served in that capacity from 1978 until 1984.

Perhaps chief among Monat’s accomplishments during those years was the creation of two new colleges at NIU, the College of Law and the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. His tenure also included the creation of new Ph.D. programs in geology, biological sciences and mathematics, and undergraduate programs in information technology and meteorology.

Monat’s years as president also were marked by efforts to expand opportunities for minorities on campus through the creation of presidential commissions on the status of minorities and women. He also instituted the Presidential Research Professor Award, which has become the university’s top award to honor sustained excellence in faculty scholarship and research.

As president, Monat also directed some major campus improvements, including replacing a parking lot with the Martin Luther King Commons and the construction of the Campus Recreation Center.

His tenure also included the creation of the Social Science Research Institute, which became the first university tenant of the building now named in Monat’s honor.