Morrill Hall, also known as the “chicken coop” because it was the first residence hall on campus that housed women, stood for more than 100 years.

President Simon referred to Morrill Plaza as a place for rest and a place for contribution — a way to connect back to the university’s roots.

The inspiration behind former Morrill Hall stemmed from the Morrill Act, which was signed by President Lincoln in 1862. The Morrill Act granted lands and established funding to support colleges where agricultural studies were most prominent.

The kiosk, which is the main focal point in the plaza, features two touch screens that display information about 10 of MSU’s highly-recognized faculty for their ground-breaking studies, such as an anti-cancer drug that was researched by Barnett Rosenberg. Aside from Rosenberg, some of the prominent faculty members currently recognized on the kiosk are William Beal, Beatrice Paolucci and Robert Kedzie.

“It really serves as a remembrance to some of the heritage that she (President Simon) was talking about,” said Lee Morrill, a distant relative of Justin Smith Morrill. “I think it’s a good history lesson for students, as well as a good faculty recognition. There’s a lot of very scholarly people with leadership in education at this university. There’s respect for those folks.”

Bill Beekman, the vice president and secretary of the Board of Trustees, said the idea for the plaza came from President Simon.

“It was in recognition of the fact that we really don’t have a space on campus explicitly dedicated to recognizing some of our historic faculty and their accomplishments,” Beekman said.

Beekman said the Morrill Plaza is an opportunity to understand more about some of MSU’s earliest predecessors. He said administration hopes to add the more faculty to the kiosk in the years to come.

“Michigan State was designed to be the best,” President Simon said. “If the world created a university, it would create us.”