The complex of the St. Olaf Center and Administration Building was named for President Clemens M. Granskou on Founders’ Day, 1973, when Mrs. Ella Granskou was also presented with the Regents Award by then-president Sidney Rand. Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson proclaimed the day Granskou Day in their honor. The renaming of the buildings for Pres. Granskou was the first of many events marking the college’s centennial in 1974.

President Granskou’s interest in student affairs at St. Olaf had been apparent during his early years at the college. A graduate of 1917, he was also the student body president for 1916-17. Within a few months of assuming the St. Olaf presidency in 1943, he was eagerly contemplating the construction of a “commons building,” regarding it as an essential priority for the institution. But finding the resources for such a building took time. Throughout the 1950s, St. Olaf students continued to eat at two different cafeterias (in Old Ytterboe and Old Mohn Halls) and the bookstore, post office and snack bar remained in the lower levels of the library. While waiting for funding, Pres. Granskou studied recently constructed student unions in the region and their management.

At the St. Olaf Center dedication in 1960, Granskou thanked the college’s students for their financial commitment to its construction. In 1956, students had voted almost unanimously to assess themselves $15 a year to start a student union fund. Granskou also acknowledged the assistance of a generous alumni community in making the Center a reality.