[January 09, 2006]

ODU building improvements force some shuffling

(Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 9--NORFOLK -- In 20 months , Old Dominion University will finish a face-lift on its tallest and most heavily trafficked building.

The nine-floor Batten Arts and Letters Building , known as BAL on campus, will get a pair of two-story atria, computer-friendly classrooms and, best of all, a normal heating and air conditioning system.

But every operation entails some pain.

To start the work, the university has dispersed roughly 60 faculty members and administrators, who had offices on the top three floors of BAL, to three buildings across campus.

Most are sandwiched in rows of cubicles in what had been an empty first-floor storefront in an apartment building for students in the University Village.

"I feel like I'm in a Dilbert cartoon sometimes," said Katherine Rocca , an English instructor, who sat in her cubicle last week , preparing for the spring semester, which begins today .

For Rocca, it's worth it to be able to return to a building with standard temperatures. Professors and students have long complained that BAL sizzles them in the winter and freezes them in the summer.

"At times, you're thinking, 'I've got to let class out early because it's so brutally hot or brutally cold,'" she said.

The renovation will proceed in stages, triggering an elaborate moving plan for professors.

Those on the sixth floor will leave in about a month, said Janet E. Katz , associate dean of arts and letters, who is coordinating the move.

Some, but not all, of those evacuated this semester will return in the fall, when work will begin on floors 1 to 5 , forcing out another wave of professors. Meanwhile, the building's classrooms -- which cover three floors -- will be updated and rewired over the next two summers to minimize disruption to the academic schedule.

The remodeling, which officials hope to complete by the fall of 2007 , will not reduce course offerings, said Robert L. Fenning , vice president for administration and finance. "That was not an option we were given," he said.

BAL, the hub for liberal arts programs, sits on Hampton Boulevard, near 43rd Street . It holds 28 classrooms and houses nearly 600 course sections every semester, or about one-quarter of the university's total.

It hasn't been renovated since it opened in 1972 , Fenning said.

The project, costing $10.4 million, is covered by a bond issue approved overwhelmingly by Virginia voters in 2002 . The bond provided more than $900 million for campus construction projects.

Besides the air improvements, the work will equip classrooms with computer accessibility and new chairs and desks. Conference rooms will be put on each floor. Offices next to the elevators will be torn out and replaced by alcoves to let in more light.

"Now, if it snows outside, you'll know it," said Tom Robinson , the university's architect.

The building will not be expanded, but workers will add curved glass exteriors, mirroring the one fronting the Ted Constant Convocation Center, on BAL's eastern and western ends. That will create a two-story atrium on each side.

Katz and Chandra R. de Silva , dean of the College of Arts and Letters , had the farthest move. They relocated to Spong Hall , near Bolling Avenue , on the other end of campus.

"What that will do, temporarily, is make us a little less accessible," de Silva said. "They can still come here, but it's a walk across campus and it's unknown territory."

Another problem: As of last week , the phone in de Silva's new office also rang for the person who used to sit there, Andrew Balas , the health sciences dean, who now works in the Technology Building.

"Who do you want to speak to, really?" de Silva asked one confused caller.

The academic outpost in the University Village is behind the parking garage for the convocation center. It will house dozens of faculty members, from award-winning tenured professors to part-time instructors.

For Rocca, a full-time instructor, it will be a literal pain to walk to and from classes: She's recovering from a fracture in her right foot. She'll probably schedule more conferences with students online or in classrooms.

Rocca, though, sees a huge plus in the chance to mingle with her peers.

"You tend to go to class, go to your office and go home," she said. "This will allow me to get to know the people I work with better."

Princess Perry , a lecturer in English, also looks forward to greater camaraderie with her colleagues.

The down side, for her, will be the loss of a place of "isolated quiet."

Perry already is practicing how to talk on the phone in a softer voice.

Reach Philip Walzer at (757) 222-5105 or phil.walzer@pilotonline.com.

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