The University of Minnesota Honors Program (UHP) officially completed its move to Jones Hall last week after spending over a decade in Northrop Auditorium.

UHP finished moving to Jones Hall, located at 27 Pleasant St. SE, four days after it closed its doors for the last time in Northrop. 

Matt Bribitzer-Stull, the program’s director, said this move means a lot for the future of the UHP to help foster a more connected community and upgrade the office.

“The program, in my opinion, has always struggled with a sense of community because we’re not located in any one college,” Bribitzer said. 

Bribitzer, who plans to step down from his role as the director of the program in June, said because the program takes in students from every major, it makes fostering a communal space much harder for honors students. But now, with a more accessible and approachable office, he believes that whoever is elected as director will have a much easier time.

“That’s been on my mind since day one, and I think the new director’s going to have a great new space to help take that next step forward,” Bribitzer said.

This change is seen as an upgrade for the program’s operations, as the design of Northrop caused the office to be split into two, causing difficulties for students and staff, Bribitzer said. Now, with one connected space, he said the program can be a more welcoming home.

Outside of a split office, the building itself posed some difficulties for the program. As the auditorium will see its 96th anniversary this year, its age has begun to show. 

Most recently, Northrop underwent emergency repairs in 2023 after a portion of the building’s ceiling collapsed, which resulted in nearly a month of suspended operations. 

So when the program was approached by Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Greg Sneed, who proposed the move, Bribitzer said he was excited by the prospect of a new look for the program’s home.

“We went over and looked at the Jones space, and we saw a lot of potential for solving some of the current problems that our space in Northrop has,” Bribitzer said. 

While members of the office said they are excited for what this change could mean for students, some students said the change does not mean much to them. UHP student Nick Hoppe said he does not recall ever visiting the office in person, as all of his advising sessions were held over Zoom.

Hoppe is one of many students who prefers to have their meetings with staff virtually. However, Anna Finley, a peer assistant for the program and student enrolled in the UHP, said that she believes this new space will benefit students in the honors program.

Finley said she believes one of the larger draws for students is their new event space, which will be used to host community-building sessions for the program.

“When people stop in for appointments, they will also hopefully see that the event space has something going on and they’ll be more likely to stop by,” Finley said. “We’re trying to make these events more open to everyone.”