by Raechel Fittante
Editorial Director
Responsible for the relocation of academic departments and other facilities, the Space Committee is currently working to determine the new location of the Education Department, uses for the vacant space in the Student Center and expansion of the Behavioral Science Department in the Mainiero Building.
Brian Worley, director of facilities management, said that the University is taking into account the amount of money that can be distributed to each department due to the moves.
The immediate move “is going to relate to a strategic plan the departments are planning right now. One of the plans we are considering is converting the [newly-vacated] maintenance shed to a TV station for the Communications Department,” Worley said.
The maintenance shed is currently being used for storage and is also a temporary office of a construction company on campus.
The largest of the current department moves involves the Kilo Building which was the temporary site of the Wilson Library during construction for the new library. According to Worley, the space in Kilo will be the new home of the Education Department, which is currently located in the Mainiero Building.
“We anticipate having that ready at the beginning of August before the fall semester,” said Worley.
“They [the committee] have determined that we should go ahead with plans to refurbish the Kilo building,” said President Stephen Morgan. “It will be remodeled to faculty offices and classroom space. The space vacated by the Education Department will be for the Natural Science Department. Then we’re utilizing the space vacated by the School of Business for the Behavioral Science Department.”
According to Dr. Morgan, Behavioral Science is taking over much of the left over office space in the Education Department, mostly due to the fact that Behavioral Science in its present state has some cramped and shared office spaces. The department is also starting a new doctoral program and “we’ll need some space for that,” said Dr. Morgan.
“There will be a lot of new office space utilized,” said Worley. “For example, what was Dean [Bill] Relf’s office is now back to a seminar room.”
Dr. John Gingrich, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Assistant Dean Aghop Der-Karabetian will move into the space vacated by the School of Business and Economics.
The committee is still discussing what will become of the vacated mailbox space in the Student Center.
“The Student Center needs expansion for both physical education and student affairs,” said Dr. Morgan. “We’re making long range plans to see how we want to use that open space in the Student Center.”
Furthermore, an anthropology collection donated from the city of La Verne will be on display for the first time in the Central Services Building, east of the Oaks Residence Halls.
