The English, communication disorders and mass media departments, housed in Grauel Building, have been relocated to numerous locations across campus due to the building’s impending renovations. The renovations include updating the infrastructure of the building, including a new HVAC system, new plumbing and new electric, expansion of classroom spaces, new technology and furnishings in classrooms and the addition of a student lounge on the middle floor.
Work on Grauel began during winter break when asbestos was removed from the building. General renovations began on Jan. 9 with demolition and are to be completed by mid-July.
Lisa Howe, the project manager for the Grauel renovation, said students can expect an almost brand new building when they return for the fall 2017 semester.
“Students can expect a nice, new-looking building,” Howe said. “There will be all new finishes, new paint, new lights, new flooring. … New technologies will also be added to the classrooms.”
The English department has moved its offices to the University Press Building located at 810 Normal Ave. with faculty offices in Dearmont’s D Wing, Serena, Carnahan, Pacific and other buildings across campus. Classes will be held in Dempster, Scully and Carnahan.
Dr. Susan Kendrick, chair of the English department, said moving the 120 classes offered by the department and the department’s 60 faculty members was a challenge, but other departments were generous with offering available classroom space.
Kendrick said students should be sure to check their schedule so they are aware of the location of their classes. If students have any questions, they are encouraged to contact the department secretary at (573) 651-2156.
“Everyone was very generous with telling us what classes were available and when,” Kendrick said. “It will be really important for people to review their schedules to find out where their classes are because we are literally teaching all over campus.”
The communication disorders department, previously located on the second floor of Grauel, has relocated to offices in the new Clinic for Speech and Hearing, which will officially open later this semester on the corner of Watkins and Pacific along with locations in Dearmont. A classroom in Pacific Hall will host most of the classes offered by the department all day. Additional classes will be taught in Crisp Hall and Brandt.
Department chair Dr. Marcia Haims said moving the department out of Grauel has created some issues in the new clinic.
“There’s too much stuff in here right now,” Haims said. “We don’t have room for everything in here because everything from our offices is here and this was designed to be a clinic building, not an office building … we’re going to have a lot more traffic here than we should have. In the grand scheme of things, because of HEPA compliance, we have to make sure people who come to see us in the offices don’t see who is in the waiting room.”
Graduate students will be using one of the lab spaces for a classroom place and students who have clinic hours will have to come to the new clinic as well.
Haims said the additional space that will be available once renovations are complete will be beneficial to the department due to the ability to increase class sizes.
“We will have three classrooms instead of two, and they have capacity of about 34 to 35 students,” Haims said. “We previously had one room that had capacity for 25 and one of 24, so I had to cap all of our undergraduate classes at 23 and 24 because that capacity includes the instructor. We had students who had to wait to get into their undergraduate classes because we didn’t have the room. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most, is having room for bigger class sizes.”
The Department of Mass Media was moved out of the basement level of Grauel and has relocated to Brandt Hall. All offices and most classrooms will be in Brandt Hall, formerly occupied by Southeast’s marching band, which is set to be renovated starting summer 2019.
Howe said general renovations in Grauel will be completed in July and the building will be officially reopened in August for the fall semester.
