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O'Kelly Hall - Ireland Research Laboratory

Address:

The University of North Dakota
221 Centennial Drive
Grand Forks, ND 58202

Formerly known as Medical Science South, O'Kelly Hall was built in 1949. In September 1995 the building was renamed in honor of Dr. Bernard O'Kelly, Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences. O'Kelly retired in 1995 as the longest-serving arts and science dean in the nation. He was the founding member and the first convener of the North Dakota Committee for the Humanities and Public Issues, and served as the first president of the National Federation of State Humanities Program.

The laboratory began as one room lab in the old Medical School building in 1953 as a result of a bequest of the late Guy L. Ireland. In 1958 the first floor was constructed with a gift from Mrs. Bertha Ireland as a memorial to her husband, a grant from the National Institutes of Health, and an appropriation from the North Dakota Medical Center. Additional grants from the National Cancer Institute and funds from the Medical Center provided for the
construction of four additional floors in the early 1960s. During this period from 1953 to 1993, basic science research efforts at the Ireland Research Laboratory in the Medical Science South building were devoted entirely to biomedical research and to graduate education in the medical sciences.

In 1993, all research activities of the Ireland Research Laboratory were transferred to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on the second floor within the newly constructed Medical School building, the Edwin James Research Facility, which also houses the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. At this new site, Dr. Robert Nordlie, Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Ireland Research Laboratory Director, continued the research projects and objectives began in 1953. The floors initially designated as the Ireland Research Laboratory in the old Medical Science South building still exist and have been remodeled to allow for newer uses. The spirit of the Ireland Research Laboratory continues in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the new Edwin James building with donations to the Ireland Laboratory being used to support invited speakers with interests in biochemical pathology and cancer research. In 2004, a wall display documenting the contributions of the Ireland family and displaying the old Ireland Laboratory and its history will be on permanent display in the Department.

Who is in this building?

Grand Forks, ND