College of education move will take place by fall semester

No children are being left behind, but the college of education is packing up and saying goodbye to its old building. Durin­­­g the last weeks of July, the college of education plans to move to its new building, located on the west side of Eighth Street.

New technology will make this new college of education much more user-friendly than the old building.

Rebecca Libler, associate dean for educational research and outreach, said that not only is the entire building equipped with internet access, but there are plugs in the floor to accommodate students needing to plug in computers. Two-person tables with chairs will also replace the old desks.

The new building will be a little smaller than the old college, but that does not seem to bother most people.

The faculty are having a "good time" figuring out where to put everything, said Libler.

"We are excited," she said. "We like everything about the building."

The building is also very "green." According to the college of education Web site, about 90 percent of the steel used in the reconstruction had been recycled.

The layout of the building will also be different, with all the faculty offices being located on the third floor and all the department offices on the second floor.

There are 13 classrooms in the new building, an atrium, restaurant and a theater run by the HMSU for special programs and extra space.

In the basement there is an area for the Rowe Center for Communicative Disorders, a reading center, counseling clinic and university testing.

"I am excited for the new facilities and commons area." said Kayla Alexander, junior speech-language pathology major. "I think it will be nice to have updated classrooms and another area on the other side of campus where students can eat and hang out."

Senior English teaching major Bobi Crippin is also looking forward to the new building.

"I think [the move is] a good idea," she said. "The old building is not efficient anymore, plus it will be nice to have it closer to the main part of campus."

The college of business is planning to move to the old federal building, though the departure date is still not set.

Bruce McLaren, associate dean of the college of business, said the old federal building is currently being renovated into the new college of business. The most visible change so far is on the south side of the building, facing downtown. The building is also considerably cleaner than it has been in a long time.

The building is just finishing up stage two of a three-stage process, with the final stage consisting of about 80 percent of the work that needs to be done, McLaren said.

Once stage three starts it should only be about two years until the new college of business is ready.