# Johnson Family Hall

Johnson Family Hall is one of the 32 residence halls at the University of Notre Dame. It is located east of Dunne Hall and north of McCourtney Hall in the East Quadrangle. It is the newest women's residence hall, built in 2019-2020, after a donation from Todd & Susan Johnson. Its mascot is the valkyrie, and its colors are navy and light blue. It was opened during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 .

## History

Construction started on December 10, 2018. The hall was expected to be completed and ready for occupancy by August 2020. On Friday, September 6, 2019, the new Residence Hall's name was announced to be Johnson Family Hall. Todd, Susan, Matthew and Hilary Johnson of Duluth, Minnesota, donated $20 million. The Johnson family members are members of Notre Dame’s Cavanaugh Council, Badin Guild and Boldly Notre Dame campaign cabinet. Matthew and Hilary are also Notre Dame alumni.
In the spring of 2019, the university administration gave enrolled female students the option to move into Pangborn Hall, which at the time was functioning as a swing dorm for halls undergoing renovation, to gain a guaranteed spot in the new residence hall for the 2020-2021 year. The new community formed in the fall of 2019, led by rector Amanda Springstead, and was known as the Pangborn-Johnson Community (nicknamed PB&J). On September 8 2019, after the announcement of the hall's new name, the community took group hall photos both outside of both Pangborn and the under construction Johnson Family Hall.
Construction of the hall was completed in August 2020, in time for the students to move in for the fall semester, both those of the PB&J community and freshmen and new transfers. The dorm was opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which campus life as subject to several restrictions and regulations. The chapel, dedicated to St. Theresa of Calcutta, was dedicated on September 6, 2020 by bishop Kevin C. Rhodes. For the hall's first holiday season, the Johnson family gave each resident of Pangborn a “Johnson Family Hall” quilt as a welcome gift and a way to foster community bonding. These blankets have been gifted to new Johnson Family residents every year since.
In January 2022, the building received LEED gold certification due to its environmental friendly construction and design features.. The building uses geothermal energy through geothermal wells that were added during its construction. The environmentally friendly processes and strategies used in its construction also gained it an honorable mention at the 2021 U.S. Green Building Council Indiana Leadership Awards in the Green Building of the Year New Construction category.
In addition to the rector and the priest in residence, staples of the Notre Dame residential system, Johnson Family also houses resident assistants and assistant rectors.

## Description

Johnson Family Hall is a four-story 68,000 square feet large and hosts 225 undergraduate women. Designed by Mackey Mitchell Architects, it is built in modern collegiate gothic architecture in the campus tradition, and is fashioned along the line of projects by Kervick and Fagan and Maginnis & Walsh. Among the features it offers its residents are a community chapel, a formal reading room, study spaces, lounges, kitchens on every floor. The first floor is mostly dedicated to communal spaces while the basement hosts food options, a gym, laundry and storage areas. Rooms come in both singles, doubles, and quads. The space also houses apartments for the rector, priest-in-residence and faculty-in-residence and the rest of the hall staff.
Notre Dame has an undergraduate hall system which blends the residential college system and the house system. All first-year students are placed in one of the 32 halls upon enrollment, and students rarely switch halls. Each hall has its own spirit, tradition, mascot, sport teams, events, dances and reputation. Johnson Family Hall's mascot is the valkyrie, while its colors are navy and light blue. Johnson Family Hall host two signature events.The first is the Johnson Family Feud-- a Notre Dame rendition of the hit show Family Feud where dorms compete for the Golden Valkyrie. The second is "Ride of the Valks" a tradition of running through the Notre Dame Library Reflection Pool early in the morning of the first home game.

## Reference section

* 1 2 3 "Notre Dame's new $20 million women's residence hall named after Minnesota family". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ "Notre Dame to build 15th women's residence hall". WISH-TV. 2019-09-06. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ Brown, Alex. "Notre Dame begins work on new men's residence hall". Inside INdiana Business. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
* 1 2 Kennedy, Mike (September 10, 2019). "Johnson Family Hall". American School & University. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* 1 2 Valentina, Adriana (September 12, 2019). "University of Notre Dame to build new women's residence hall | Indiana Construction News". Indiana Construction News. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ "StackPath". www.asumag.com. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
* 1 2 Slemmer, Ed. "Changes in Notre Dame housing policy already squeezing the market for apartments". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* 1 2 3 Kirkman, Allie. "Five major Notre Dame construction projects you should know about". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* 1 2 "Hall Timeline". Johnson Family Hall. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
* 1 2 Thompson, Tajae. "All About Johnson Family". Undergraduate Admissions. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* 1 2 "Hall Timeline". Johnson Family Hall. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* 1 2 "Peek inside Johnson Family Hall before it opens in August". NDWorks. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* ↑ "Weekly schedule of Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades". Today's Catholic. 2020-09-05. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ "A Light in the Dark". Irish Rover. 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ Roberts, Mary; Writer/Reporter. "Notre Dame Buildings Receive LEED Certification". Inside INdiana Business. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
* 1 2 "Five Buildings at Notre Dame Earn LEED Certification". Building Indiana. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* ↑ McLaughlin, Merritt (October 15, 2019). "Notre Dame Reaches Sustainability Goals". www.insideindianabusiness.com. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ Caruso, Diane Daniels, Annacaroline. "Notre Dame Unloads Final Batch Of Coal On Campus". WVPE. Retrieved 2021-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
* ↑ "USGBC Indiana announces leadership award recipients | U.S. Green Building Council". www.usgbc.org. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* ↑ "Johnson Family Residence Hall". Mackey Mitchell Architects. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ "University of Notre Dame, Residence Hall Engineer". Ross & Baruzzini. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* ↑ "Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education". Women In Academia Report. 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
* ↑ Glanzer, Perry L. (2017). Restoring the soul of the university : unifying Christian higher education in a fragmented age. Nathan F. Alleman, Todd C. Ream. Downers Grove, Illinois. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8308-9163-4. OCLC 969439621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* ↑ "How Being Part of a 'House' Within a School Helps Students Gain A Sense of Belonging". KQED. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
* ↑ "Home, Sweet Dome". digitaleditions.walsworthprintgroup.com. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
* ↑ "Johnson Family Hall Lenten Mission Awareness Project". Congregation of the Holy Cross. Retrieved 2021-04-23.

## External links section

* Official website
* Description on the Residential Life website
* Campus Tour