The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has approved a name for the new dining hall and future residence hall complex that is taking shape in Champaign.

Stanley O. Ikenberry Hall, named for the University’s 14th president who served from 1979 to 1995, will be located at the corner of Gregory Drive and Euclid Street in Champaign. Ikenberry was one of the three longest-serving presidents of the University and also served as the president of the American Council of Education from 1996 to 2001.

Ikenberry’s most notable accomplishments as president include initiatives which led to the establishment of Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He also founded the President’s Award Program for low-income and underrepresented groups of students.

“President Ikenberry was a great president and he was the president for 16 years, and I think the University was looking for an opportunity to name something after him,” said Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs. “President Ikenberry was such a prominent president that we wanted something very prominent to be named after him.”

Romano said the Board of Trustees made the final decision as to the naming of the complex, and it came about with input from President B. Joseph White, Chancellor Richard Herman and housing staff, many of whom worked for the University during Ikenberry’s presidency.

Projected to open for the fall 2010 semester, the $76 million project calls for replacing Peabody and Gregory Drive dining halls with Ikenberry dining hall. The dining hall will offer different cuisines at food stations and seating for nearly 1,200 people, making it one of the largest dining halls in the country, Romano said. Space will also be allocated for student meeting rooms, multipurpose rooms and studying.

Ikenberry dining hall will be located on the Stanley O. Ikenberry Commons and feature energy-efficient systems. The facility’s residence hall wing will house 150 residents, including students with disabilities who currently live in Beckwith Hall.

The University’s long-range plans include replacement of the existing Gregory Drive and Peabody Drive residence halls with Stanley O. Ikenberry Commons, which more than 3,000 students will call home.

“We think President Ikenberry really understood the student experience and this is really appropriate for the student life building to be named after him,” Romano said. “It’s going to transform student life on campus.”