UNIVERSITY'S EXPANSION INCLUDES NEW BUILDINGS

Dempster Hall was completed in 1996. (SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN)

Southeast Missouri State University resembled a perpetual construction site for much of the past decade as the school moved ahead with an expensive list of building projects that have transformed and expanded the campus.

"Ten years ago, we didn't have a business building," Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins said. There wasn't a recreation building addition. The aging social studies building was in poor shape, and some of the university's residence halls were in need of an overhaul.

Since then, the university has been in a building mode, fueled by state funding, student fees, private donations and bond issues. Nearly $68 million has been spent on major projects, most of that within the last six years.

Art Wallhausen, associate to the president, said the building boom ranks second only to the 1960s and early 1970s when many of the university's academic buildings and residence halls were constructed.

Southeast built the $15 million Dempster Hall to house the business school. Dedicated in 1996, the structure for the first time put all the business faculty under one roof. Previously, business faculty members were scattered in several buildings across campus including Academic Hall.

The university also spent $5.5 million to expand the Student Recreation Center. The project was completed in 1999.

A.S.J. Carnahan Hall

It spent $4.6 million to renovate the 99-year-old social science building. Shut down for structural problems in 1993, the building was renovated and reopened in 1998. The renovated structure is named A.S.J. Carnahan Hall in honor of a former congressman and U.S. ambassador who was the father of the late governor Mel Carnahan.

The university constructed a $1.8 million building to house the university's facilities management offices and provide a maintenance facility for its shuttle buses. It spent another $2.6 million to improve its power plant.

Two new higher education centers the $434,000 Kennett, Mo., center, housed in a former grocery store, and the $4.1 million Sikeston center opened last year. Both projects involved major funding from the communities.

Southeast modernized two of its high-rise residence halls from 1993 to 1995 at a cost of $12 million. It renovated its Greek Housing residence halls for fraternities and sororities at a cost of $8.2 million, completing the work last year. It spent another $4.1 million on renovating the central area of the Towers complex, including the cafeteria. That renovated area opened last August.

Stadium facelift

Houck Stadium received a facelift last year with the installation of a synthetic turf at a cost of $885,000.

Construction is nearing completion on the $8.5 million Seabaugh Polytechnic Building, which is scheduled to be open by the start of fall classes.

Southeast's building spree shows no sign of ending soon. The university has plans for a $36 million River Campus visual and performing arts school on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary in Cape Girardeau.

The university also wants to build a new alumni center on the north end of campus adjacent to Wildwood, the former official residence of Southeast presidents.