News

Renovations will restore office space to faculty

By Andrew Fritsch
The Daily Cougar

Construction that began in August 2002 on the Communication Building will be finished by the end of February, though the work was slated for completion Jan. 6.

"The thrust of this project was to bring (communication) administration and faculty from Agnes Arnold Hall to the Communication Building," Ward Booth, media production engineer and student, said.

Since the Communication Building was completed in 1978, it has been too small to house the departmentis faculty, and the staff was never consolidated in one locale, Garth Jowett, director of the School of Communications, said. At one time, 29 faculty members were dispersed through four buildings, he said.

"Weive been trying (to move) since the early i80s," Jowett said.

The renovation has added space for 11 offices for professors and an area for teacher aides and graduate students, Ward said. KUHF vacating its old space in the Communication Building, which helped initiate the project, provided space for offices as well, Jowett said.

To add the new office space, the ceiling in the television production studio, located on the first floor of the Communication Building, was lowered, Ward said. New lighting was necessary because of the new ceiling height, he said.

"We lost some production capability (a dimmer), but the trade off is we got brand-new, state-of-the-art studio and field lighting equipment," Ward said.

Most of the lighting equipment UH students used was donated from TV stations and was outdated, Jowett said.

"We were using 25-year-old equipment, which, in this day and time, is ludicrous, so we were way past the need for new equipment," Jowett said.

Jowett said the lighting equipment cost consumed about $100,000 of the $800,000 project budget, which was funded through the Provostis office with tier one funds.

The renovations have been delayed by doors and lock sets that have not been delivered because UH changed specifications late in the project and the manufacturer being in inventory mode, Ward and Jowett said.

Not accounting for steel beams in the walls where office windows were to be located in the initial architectural plans caused more delays, Jowett said. However, the engineers determined cutting the beams would not affect the buildingis stability, he said.

Construction noise has been kept to a minimum, though there have been disruptions, because the crews have been working around the schoolis schedule, and when the workers have been asked to stop, they have stopped, Ward said. Jowett said there have been no official complaints.

Faculty in the Communication Building, for the most part, have not been disturbed by the continuing construction project, Ward said.

"I think most of the faculty here are happy," he said.

Jowett said, however, that some faculty in Agnes Arnold Hall have been "rumbling" about packing books and moving after 24 years.

"I have more books than anybody, and I have to move to," Jowett said.

The move will happen during Spring Break, Jowett said.

"This has been long over due," Jowett said. 
 

 Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu