SEMO READIES BUSINESS BUILDING; FACULTY MOVE IN AS WORK CONTINUES

Unpacked boxes and drywall dust decorated Southeast Missouri State University's new College of Business building Monday as faculty moved in.

Construction workers continued to put the finishing touches on the $15.8 million Robert A. Dempster Hall even as the college dean, Dr. Gerald McDougall, and his faculty prepared for a new school year.

Many faculty members spent the day unpacking boxes in their new offices whose bare walls, devoid of family pictures and framed, college degrees, testified to the structure's newness.

McDougall's upstairs office, with its sweeping view of the university campus and the Mississippi River, was cluttered with unpacked boxes Monday. A coffeemaker was on the floor.

Moving in is hard work, said McDougall. "We don't have the luxury of delaying the start of school."

The university's physical-plant crews moved 2,000 boxes of faculty possessions from three other campus buildings into Dempster Hall last week.

The boxes filled two 45-foot trucks, said Tom Lee of the facilities management department. That doesn't include the classroom desks and other furniture. "There is more furniture coming in daily," said Lee.

Custodians are already at work cleaning up the drywall dust and other debris from construction work, he said.

"There is still a lot of dust," Lee said.

Outside, part of the parking lot remains to be paved. Bare soil borders the front of the building where grass, trees and shrubs soon will be planted.

Painting of the building's interior should be finished by week's end.

Dr. Bert Kellerman, associate dean of the business college, said the building will be ready when fall classes start Monday. But landscaping and some other finishing touches may not be wrapped up until after the semester starts.

Kellerman said the construction work began 14 months ago.

That is a tight time schedule for such a massive project. "We really could have used about three more months," said John O'Malley of the university's facilities management department.

At 100,000 square feet, the concrete and glass structure is spacious.

The entrance features a commons area two stories high with a wall of windows on one end that looks toward the river.

The window-filled building has three levels: a basement and the first and second floors.

It has large classrooms and conference rooms. There is a lounge for students.

The building has more than 20 classrooms and computer labs as well as a 400-seat auditorium.

Students will have access to everything from the Internet to teleconferencing,.

Dempster Hall will be home to about 65 faculty and staff, including the entire College of Business and the computer sciences department.