NEWARK — A new academic building at the University of Delaware, named in honor of President Joe Biden, is in the works and former Governor John Carney has proposed funding it at $20 million in his Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal.
UD officials confirmed that the university will be building Biden Hall as the permanent home for the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration and Biden Institute. It will serve to “advance signature programs as an interdisciplinary nexus for the social sciences” at Delaware’s largest university.
“This modern facility will harness the latest technology to cultivate academic growth, interdisciplinary research collaborations, dialogue, and civil discourse, all of which are crucial to a flourishing democracy in the 21st century. More details will be shared as they become available in alignment with project planning and fundraising,” UD spokesman Christopher Vito said in a prepared statement.
Biden first established the Biden Institute in 2017, right after he finished his tenure as vice president. It serves as a research and policy center to make a broad impact on economic reform, infrastructure, civil rights and more. It has also drawn big name speakers such as Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Vogue Magazine’s election correspondent Jack Schlossberg, among others.
The institute is currently based out of the Blue and Gold Club on Kent Way in downtown Newark. Vito said that Biden Hall will be located on UD’s main campus, although its exact location has yet to be determined as the project is still in its early phase.
“We are fundraising and planning with intent to enter design and programmatic planning in the 2025 calendar year,” Vito said.
The news comes days after UD started to move into its new interdisciplinary science lab, Building X, and was first reported by the Newark Post.
Four days ago, Carney released his final state budget hours before he resigned to be sworn in as mayor of Wilmington. In it, the budget included $60 million for the three publicly-funded colleges and universities to address maintenance needs. The Delaware Business Times first reported that Carney also proposed to allocate another $20 million to UD for Biden Hall.
Carney had also projected that Biden Hall would need $7 million in the next two years, in addition to the initial round of funding. However, the budget and bond bill are debated by the legislature, items can be added and taken away through the process.
Gov.-elect Matt Meyer will also have the opportunity to mark up the bill in the spring.
