Kelly Hutsell

Brad Gilges and Steve Saunders, Facilities Operations employees, discuss the plans for one of the seven renovations under way at Malott Hall, south of Budig Hall. Some of the projects, such as this lab, will be done in the next few months. Other larger renovations could take more than a year.

Malott Hall looks sound from the exterior. A visit inside, however, reveals the skeletons of seven projects in progress.

Projects spanned from the third through sixth floors of the building, which is home to the physics and astronomy, chemistry and medicinal chemistry departments.

Some rooms have skeletal walls and dust coats every surface.

Three of the multi-million dollar renovations began last semester. The building was in need of modification and upgrades, said Jeff Aube, chairman of medicinal chemistry.

Aube said his department would benefit from three projects. One is a large-scale remodeling; the other two are upgrades to research facilities.

The department of chemistry leads three other projects. Two are lab upgrades for faculty who arrived in August 2004 and are funded by tuition enhancement dollars, said Susan Teague, chemistry department business manager.

The department is also upgrading its reverse osmosis water purifier, Teague said. The purifier provides distilled water to labs throughout the building.

“There’s so much going on, I have a hard time just keeping track of our own projects,” Teague said.

Students have noticed the renovations. They hear the noise of construction during class.

“It’s distracting, especially during exams,” said Jeannette Ploetz, Lenexa fifth-year pharmacy student.

Ploetz said she hadn’t seen any of the renovations or improvements.

The noise can be annoying, but it will be better for the building in the long run, Dustin Redger, Newton freshman, said.

Teague and Aube said there were some noise complaints, but not many.

Teague said crews worked long hours during winter break to get as much of the demolition and loud work done as possible before students returned for the spring semester.

Physics and astronomy has one renovation planned to improve lab space for a new faculty member.

...

Renovation projects in Malott

Chemistry

New faculty lab upgrades (2): $500,000. Expected completion: April 2005

Reverse osmosis water purifier upgrade: $80,000. Expected completion: February 2006

Medicinal Chemistry

Large-scale remodeling: $3,000,000. Expected completion: February 2006

Research facilities upgrades (2): $1,000,000. One complete, other nearing completion

Physics and Astronomy

New faculty lab upgrade: $130,000. Expected completion: April 2005

Total cost: $4.71 million

Sources: Departments of chemistry, medicinal chemistry and physics and astronomy