By Jessica Ganga
Features Editor
As the College undergoes renovations to the Brower Student Center and construction to a new STEM Building, it is hard to think back to a time that there weren’t people with hard hats walking around. According to Mairin Sutcliffe in the Sept. 7, 1999, issue of The Signal, the students were welcomed back with similar construction. Bliss Hall was undergoing some renovations and Bray Hall was demolished and the Business Building and Biology Building were brand new to campus.
Students returning to the College should expect to see some new faces — on the academic buildings.
According to Greg Bressler, associate vice president of Facilities Management and Planning, every academic building will be newly built or newly renovated by the 2004-2005 academic year, in time for the college’s 150th anniversary.
Construction projects in the works this fall include the new School of Business Building, the new Biology Building, the demolition of Bray Hall and renovations to Bliss Hall.
The school of Business Building, scheduled for completion two weeks ago, should be finished within the month, according to Bressler. Construction projects on the building’s exterior include birchwork, the installation of windows and the completion of sidewalk extensions surrounding the building.
Inside, workers are still installing sheet rock, ceiling tiles and carpeting before the building is ready for academic use, Bressler said. By October, he anticipates that students and faculty will be able to move into the new offices and classrooms.
Bliss Hall has undergone renovations over the summer in order to house the humanities departments: philosophy and religion, English, modern languages and women’s and gender studies. According to Bressler, only “punch list,” or small construction projects, remain.
Within a few days, more fences should begin to go up around Bray Hall, Bressler said. The demolition is expected to take approximately a month and a half.
The demolition will be primarily contained in an “island construction site,” to leave the surrounding area as unobstructed as possible.
The area immediately surrounding Bray Hall will be fenced off, as well as a triangular area between the student center and the main sidewalk leading to Loser Hall.
Sidewalks will be blocked only temporarily while construction vehicles pass between the two fenced-in areas, Bressler said.
Once demolished, construction will begin on a new social sciences building, which will stand just south of its predecessor, closer to the Brower Student Center.
Upon completion in the summer of 2001, the New Bray Hall will house the political science, history and psychology departments, Bressler said.
According to Bressler, construction on the new Biology Building is running on schedule, projected to finish in June 2000. Workers are close to completing the brickwork, he said.
Although the classrooms are in place, the building requires extensive ventilating systems and piping, Bressler said.
