Over 300 gathered in newly renovated Cole Hall for a first glance at its anthropology museum and to check out the high-tech technology in the classrooms.

Interim museum director Sara Pfannkuche said she was very happy with the museum space. The new museum was set up strictly with museum spacing and modernization in mind, Pfannkuche said. She said 99 percent of the set up was started Jan. 3.

“We were moving quickly,” Pfannkuche said. “On Friday afternoon, we actually had enough that we could have opened if we had to, so we had Saturday to play around and do some tweaking.”

The museum displays two exhibits: Dancing With Spirit: Korean Mask and Object Theater and Touch the Sky, a collection of photos taken by national geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg. Pfannkuche said the museum will change the exhibits two to three times a year.

“I think it’s pretty flippin’ sweet,” said anthropology graduate student Ashlee Craig. “It’s much better than the old museum. It’s much bigger and a lot more open and welcoming than the previous one.”

Anthropology graduate student Illy Diaz said she thinks the museum is beautiful. Diaz said she thinks it’s going to bring in students that are intrigued by anthropology.

The building’s namesake, Fay-Cooper Cole, was an anthropologist at the University of Chicago. He helped NIU establish the anthropology department, said NIU President John Peters.

“As a student in anthropology and as an anthropologist, I feel honored that this building holds a very prolific anthropologist’s name,” Diaz said.

This was the first time some attendees were able to experience Cole Hall’s updated technology. People were able to watch the speeches outside the anthropology museum from Jameson Auditorium via a live feed.

Peters said the grand opening went better than he expected.

“I was nervous about this, about how people would receive the work we did re-purposing Cole Hall,” Peters said. “What we’ve done with the major high-tech classroom and the collabratorium, I think I couldn’t be prouder with all the work that went in it, and we did it on a budget.”

Some students at the grand opening seemed to share the same thought as Peters. Jaemin Robertson, senior political science major and BOT student trustee, said the classroom is a great edition for students because it improves the quality of life for students.

“By these classrooms being redone with up-to-date technology, it’s really a great opportunity for NIU to advance to the next stage,” Roberston said. “By next stage, I mean to the competitive university that we want it to be.”