Renovated and Remodeled Monsanto Hall Reopens

11/03/2023

After months of work, Saint Louis University’s Chemistry Department showed off the newly renovated Monsanto Hall.

Thursday morning, members of the SLU community gathered outside the building for the Grand Re-Opening Ceremony. The home of the Chemistry Department, Monsanto Hall, has been transformed through an $11 million renovation and remodel. 

“This kind of investment, at this scale, for this department which is experiencing such tremendous growth — it’s a pleasure to be able to make that kind of investment,” said Vice President for Research and Partnerships Kenneth A. Olliff. “We have incredible confidence in the great use that they will make with these incredible facilities.”

The project was the final phase of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (ISE) project. When the ISE opened in 2020, space in Monsanto was vacated. That space has now been converted into new research spaces and a new teaching lab.  

The goal of the renovation was to increase the research space for chemistry for both current faculty and future hires. 

“The new space accommodates research space for five research investigators,” said Chemistry Chair Alexei V. Demchenko, Ph.D. “The old space was crowded and not for the 21st century.”

Demchenko said when he first came to SLU in 2021, his team was split up into five different locations. Now, thanks to the renovations, the team is all back together in one space. 

“We’re all reacquainted, and it’s all working great,” he said. 

The renovations focused on the inside of the building — the outside of Monsanto Hall, which was opened in 1965, was left untouched. The inside, however, was transformed.

“It’s gorgeous on the inside, 1965 on the outside,” Oliff said. 

Provost Mike Lewis, Ph.D., said the ceremony made him feel very reflective. Lewis initially joined SLU in 2004 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. At that time, the Chemistry Department wasn’t known around SLU for its research.

Over the next 20 years, Lewis said leaders in the department and around SLU have helped push the department forward.

“It’s wonderful that we’ve had this intention to get to the place we are today where we are seeing this really incredible growth in research productivity and chemistry being at the forefront of that,” he said. “... It’s really a department that is humming on all levels right now.”

Lewis said getting the renovations done required a lot of conversations and work, but it was important to get Monsanto remodeled. 

“These are awesome problems to have — I want more problems where our successes are outgrowing our resources,” he said. “Those are fantastic problems to have.”