Students said walking through the freshly renovated Myrtilla Miner Building at Howard is like stepping into a new chapter of their academic journey. The building has undergone a significant transformation, blending its historic elements with updates designed to support the next generation of educators.
Students like Tiaja Merricks, a junior elementary education major from Winter Haven, Florida find the renovations motivating.
“It puts me in a different mentality to go harder for the semester and get up and want to go to class,” Merricks said. “Considering I’m in an environment where not only are all the students in Minor Hall able to cross paths and interact with each other, but the staff as well.”
The Miner Building, constructed more than a century ago to educate Black women and prepare Black educators, has been renovated to a modern space for learning and collaboration, serving both Howard’s School of Education (SOE) and the Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science.
Dawn Williams, dean of SOE, is proud that the building will not only house SOE but be shared with the middle school.
“It represents not only our past but also our commitment to the future,” she said. “It’s a space where educators and students come together to learn, grow and shape the future of education.”
The renovation was part of a larger $785 million campus master plan which prioritizes the improvement of educational facilities across Howard as outlined in the plan. The Miner Building’s restoration was a “more than $50 million restoration project,” according to a previous report from The Hilltop.
This aligns with the university’s strategic plan to “create environments that support and spur interdisciplinary academics and research” but also “address[ing] space needs across academic, student life, housing and medical functions.”
Brandy Jackson, the assistant dean of enrollment and student affairs for SOE, said renovations are still underway with the middle school side of the building and are expected to be completed and fully moved in by Fall 2025. She said the vacant middle school would potentially serve as a new student union.
The new classrooms and faculty offices were designed with advanced technology and include a student lounge. Additional features include a conservatory—a space Jackson said is dedicated to creative exploration and academic growth—and a new gym and auditorium for the middle school.
Mercedes Ebanks, a professor in the doctoral program in counseling psychology, said students will also have access to a mental health clinic still currently in development, called HU CARES. This would provide psychological support for both students and the wider campus community.
Other programs within SOE such as the Jumpstart Literacy Program, early education organization that works with “underserved preschool children,” and the Journal of Negro Education, a scholarly journal that focuses and publishes research centered around Black education, have also found a new home in the Miner Building.
The renovation of the Miner Building was not without challenges. Since the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its impact on Black education in Washington, D.C., preserving its historic elements while modernizing the space required careful planning and coordination with the Historic Preservation Office.
Derrick L. Niec Williams, executive director of campus planning, architecture and development, emphasized the importance of balancing the building’s historical significance with the needs of a contemporary learning environment.
“We had to find a way to meet fire safety requirements without destroying the beautiful historic windows,” he said. “We worked with the Historic Preservation Office to get concessions, which allowed us to maintain the windows and achieve the same safety outcome without compromising the building’s historic integrity.”
For the SOE students who spend their days in the building, the renovations provided more than just a beautiful new space, but “symbolizes the university’s ongoing commitment to their future.”
“Having a space like this helps us realize that we are being invested in and that makes a big difference in our experience,” Aniyah Amara-Wilson, a sophomore elementary education major from Sacramento, California said.
Jasmine Hill, a sophomore elementary education major from North Carolina, shared the same sentiments about how much she loved the newly renovated building.
“Our old building didn’t have any windows and felt really dark. This new building is so bright and modern. It’s motivating to come to class every day,” she said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau