Within the next five years, the School of Communication and the School of International Service will receive new homes, the Kogod School of Business will gain more space, Nebraska Hall will be converted into a residence hall and the Mary Graydon Center's first floor will be renovated.
The SIS plans are in the advanced stages, and the only permit still needed is the building permit. The initial design for SOC has been planned. The Kogod expansion project will begin Jan. 1 with the closing of the New Lecture Hall and the Nebraska renovations have already begun, according to University Architect Jerry Gager.
By the end of the projects, 100,000 square feet will have been added to the university, Gager said.
All these projects will begin construction in the next few years and will be complete as early as fall 2007 with the opening of the new Nebraska Hall or as late as 2010 with the opening of the new SOC building.
However, some students question if these buildings will be built. Brittany Boursiquot, a senior in Kogod, said when she first came to AU, she was promised all these new buildings and they never came.
"In [my four years here] I've heard it all," she said.
The new facilities will help AU with its recruiting effort, said Clark Gregor, public information officer in the AU Media Relations Office.
"Adding new facilities shows people AU is growing and AU is strong," Gregor said. "That's an image we need to project in our recruiting."
School of International Service Building
On the current parking lot next to the old SIS building, a new 70,000 square foot building will be constructed, according to Gager.
So far, zoning approval for the building has been approved and the university is currently waiting for the building permit. If all goes according to plan, there is a "good chance" the building will open in fall 2009, Gager said.
Both students and faculty agree it is time for a new building.
"The present structure is inadequate for our needs, as it was designed in the mid-1950s when SIS had only a couple hundred students and about 10 faculty members," Stan Watters, director of development for SIS, said in an e-mail. "Today, the SIS student population numbers almost 3,000 graduate and undergraduate, and our faculty complement is about 65." Sasha Breus, a freshman in SIS, said the school needs a more advanced building to house its programs.
"It would be nice if the building were up to standard with the great program here," she said.
In the past, according to Watters, faculty offices and classes were scattered among nine separate buildings on campus. The new building "will allow faculty and staff to work together under one roof," Leeanne Dunsmore, associate dean of SIS and a member of the SIS building committee, said in an e-mail. This will "strengthen interaction and encourage collegiality," she added.
One unique feature of the building will be its green component. It has been designated a "green" building by the standards of the National Green Building Council, according to Watters, which means the building will be "environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work," according to the U.S. Green Building Council's Web site.
Some examples of "green" factors in the building include extensive use of day lighting, construction materials that minimize environmental impact and storm water collection for reuse in toilets, according to a PowerPoint presentation provided by Watters.
"The new SIS building will promote the use of materials that are good for the environment and for the health of its occupants," Dunsmore said in the e-mail. "Like SIS itself, this new facility will give expression to human values and inspire all of us to be thoughtful about how resources are allocated."
School of Communication: McKinley reconstruction
The School of Communication is scheduled to leave its home on the third floor of the Mary Graydon Center and move to McKinley Hall within the next few years.
Phase one of the building designs is complete, Gager said, meaning conceptual design has been completed. The next steps include fundraising for the reconstruction of McKinley, Gager said.
The building is currently scheduled to open in 2010. Once the fundraising is complete, it will take three years to construct the building, Gager said.
Gager said the university is working on different scenarios for handling the relocation of McKinley's current occupants during the reconstruction.
The construction will add 10,000 square feet to the McKinley building, he said. "We deserve to have our own building," said Laura Warman, a junior in SOC. "SOC is becoming more well-known on campus."
Casey Nitsch, a freshman in SOC, agreed that the school needs its own building. "It's about time. This is one of the best communication schools in the nation, and we don't have own our building," Nitsch said. Ashley Raker, a freshman in SOC, agreed. "It's only going to get better if it can expand," Raker said.
Nebraska Hall renovation
Nebraska Hall will re-open in fall 2007 with suite-style living for 115 students, said Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs.
Demolition inside the building has just finished, and construction will start next week, Gager said. Construction must be finished by July so move-in can begin in August, he said.
"We are targeting upper-class undergraduates as the population for the building, so it is our hope that some students currently in Centennial will move to Nebraska," Weber said.
There will now be more space in Centennial, and the "end result is that we hope to have fewer triples," Weber said.
The building will also help some upperclassmen find housing without having to move off-campus, Weber said.
The new rooms will be available for sign-up during the spring 2007 room draw process. Although the building will not be completed by room draw, "hard hat" tours of the construction area will be offered to students so they can see what the rooms look like.
"I would totally want to be in Nebraska," said Jackie Santos, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Santos said the building is a little more of a walk from campus, but she still likes what the building will offer.
"It's a little further than Centennial but a great opportunity," she said. "It's another step of being on your own."
Kogod School of Business expansion
Kogod will be expanding into the New Lecture Hall/Experimental Hall, Gager said. The expanded building should be ready to open by fall 2008.
The New Lecture Hall will close Jan. 1 and will not hold any classes next spring, Gager said.
When the building closes, the process of cleaning the building will begin. This will involve asbestos removal, if it is found, and removing wiring.
"It will be quite a serious remodeling project," Gager said.
The expanded building is estimated to cost $11.5 million to $12 million, Kogod Dean Richard Durand said during his State of the Kogod address Tuesday. So far, $9.5 million has already been raised, he said. Some Kogod students said classes are too spread out now across campus.
With the new building, "students will have one building to go into, especially for business purposes," said Philip Wyks, a sophomore in Kogod.
Roman Ryan, a freshman in Kogod, said Kogod students should take classes in their own school's building.
"Right now, I have business 101 in Ward 2," Ryan said. "I haven't had any classes in Kogod."
That is a key part of the project, Durand said. There will be "no more chasing across the quad to go to Ward," he said.
MGC first floor renovation
The first floor of the Mary Graydon Center is scheduled for renovations to "open more space in the front of building," Gager said.
The lounge spaces will be renovated as well as the Tavern to create a new look, he said.
As more information about the MGC remodeling project becomes available, The Eagle will report it accordingly.
