2008 Woodie Awards
McAfee's temporary students return home
Emily Zulz/Administration editor
Issue date: 9/8/08 Section: News
|
In some ways, William Higelmire, who holds his office in McAfee, misses some of the music, but not all of it.
"The drum core, I don't miss necessarily," said Higelmire, chair of the recreation administration department.
While Doudna Fine Arts Center was being constructed, McAfee was used as a temporary space for fine arts classes, mainly music, as well as the certification office for the College of Arts and Humanities.
Now that those have returned to the now-finished Doudna, McAfee will return to its former uses.
For ten years, McAfee has been relied on for temporary space during construction and alteration of other facilities. Before Doudna, Booth Library also temporarily relocated to McAfee during renovation of the library.
"The uses that were made prior to that, as well as some other things that have developed along the way, is what McAfee will be used for this fall and in the future," said Jeffrey Cross, associate vice president for academic affairs.
McAfee's uses include classrooms and offices for the department of kinesiology and sports studies, and classrooms and offices for the department of recreation administration.
These departments had to share classrooms with Doudna, which meant much of the faculty in McAfee went across campus for a variety of classes.
"Well, sure it was an inconvenience, but again we knew we would get it back," Higelmire said. "In some respects, it's better now than it was before they were here. We have more technology in the classrooms than what we had. I think, in some ways, it was a win-win."
This semester these departments have been able to schedule the majority of their classes in McAfee allowing the faculty to be familiar with the classrooms again.
"It also gives us a better sense of a home to the students that are here, our classes are here, our department's here, the functions of the major clubs happen here," Higelmire said. "It's more centralized than what it was before."
Newer additions to McAfee include the new nursing academic program, and the Center for Academic Technology Support.
"When you see the end result, not only of the Doudna building but of the library, you understand why you had these inconveniences, and it makes it somewhat worthwhile seeing how the university benefits from these two gorgeous buildings," Higelmire said.
To accommodate for Doudna, the North Gym was made into a rehearsal space. The stage in the South Gym was turned into a bank of soundproof practice rooms.
Some of the student practice rooms for Doudna were purchased early and installed in McAfee for music rehearsals. They have since been removed and installed in the Fine Arts Center.
Most of the alterations made to McAfee have been removed.
"There are still some things that need to be done," Cross said. "There are some additional renovations that need to be done to convert some of those vacated spaces back to classrooms or to office spaces."
There are three spaces that will be used for classrooms that currently are not.
"The plan is for them to be ready for classroom use by the spring semester," Cross said.
The gymnasium floors in the North and South gyms need to be refinished, as well. Both the North and South gym floors have not been refinished since the library temporarily was located within the building.
McAfee is also slated to get more improvements over time.
There are three projects that have their funding on hold in Springfield, said Stephen Shrake, associate director of design and construction for facilities planning and management.
On hold since 2004 includes a chiller replacement, an electrical service upgrade and a remodeling of the locker and shower facilities, Shrake said.
A project that would include the installation of an elevator has been held and released multiple times since 2004, but was put on hold again about a month ago.
"Equipment wears out over time and needs to be replaced or upgraded," Shrake said on the need for these projects.
Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story