Grinnell’s dorms are divided into three complexes: North Campus, East Campus, and South Campus. The dorms on each campus are connected by a corridor called a loggia—similar to Oxford and Cambridge’s designs. Grinnell recently constructed four new residential halls, but the older buildings (like Norris, which houses many of Grinnell’s freshmen) often don’t have air conditioning.
Grinnell has two dining halls: Cowles, on North Campus, and Quad, on South Campus. Both feature typical college fare (main courses, hot sides, salad bar, sandwich bar, cereal bar, desserts, bagels, bread, tortillas, fruit, a sundae bar, and vegan dishes), though Quad has a more bohemian vibe than Cowles. All students living in residence halls are required to purchase meal plans.
Russell K. Osgood, who took office in 1998, is Grinnell College’s 12th president. Osgood earned both a bachelor’s degree (1969) and a J.D. (1974) from Yale University. He also served as a Surface Line Officer in the U.S. Navy and was an Associate Professor of Law at Boston University and then at Cornell University, where he advanced to become a dean from 1988 through 1998.
Since 2000, Osgood has enacted many of previous president Pamela Ferguson’s construction plans. In 2005, Osgood launched a five-year plan to broaden Grinnell’s curriculum, improve the college’s finances and public image, and aid the surrounding town of Grinnell, Iowa.
Thomas Cech (1970) co-won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989.
John Garang (1969) led the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and was Sudan’s vice president.
Herbie Hancock (1960), a jazz musician and composer, was part of Miles Davis’s “second great quintet.”
Harry Hopkins (1912) was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s senior advisor and the New Deal’s principal architect.
Robert Noyce (1949) co-founded Intel and co-invented the integrated circuit.
Roberta Smith (1969) was a New York Times art critic.
Joseph Welch (1914) was the main attorney for the US Army during the Army-McCarthy Hearings.
