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NewsMay 18, 1996

Southeast Missouri State University's oldest building will be gutted and replaced with a whole new interior. "We are really going to end up building a building within a building," said Dr. Ken Dobbins, the school's executive vice president. Even the roof will be replaced on the school's 94-year-old Social Science building...

Southeast Missouri State University's oldest building will be gutted and replaced with a whole new interior.

"We are really going to end up building a building within a building," said Dr. Ken Dobbins, the school's executive vice president.

Even the roof will be replaced on the school's 94-year-old Social Science building.

Only the exterior limestone walls will remain from the original structure.

"We will build a steel-structured building inside and tie the walls together," Dobbins said.

Construction could begin in the fall and take about a year to complete.

State lawmakers have appropriated $4.2 million in the fiscal 1997 budget to renovate the structure.

Dobbins said the renovated building won't be larger. "There won't be more space, it will just be configured better."

The building will be outfitted with computerized classrooms and probably a student computer lab, he said.

Construction will cause added congestion in an area already heavily used by pedestrians and motorists. The building is adjacent to a parking lot and a campus street.

Some areas will have to be cordoned off during construction, said Al Stoverink, facilities management director.

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"I am sure it will affect some parking as well as travel ways," Stoverink said.

Built in 1902, the building predates Academic Hall.

The Social Science building housed classes from 1903 to 1993.

The university closed the building three years ago because it didn't have the money to renovate it.

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education had recommended $300,000 in planning money, but Gov. Mel Carnahan recommended that construction dollars be appropriated too.

"It was a pleasant surprise to get full funding for the Social Science building," he said.

The renovation project is part of $5.35 million in capital improvements funding slated for Southeast.

The school will receive $625,000 for computerized controls for the campus heating and cooling systems and monitoring of fire and security alarms; and $508,000 for information technology items such as computers and equipment to improve campus access to the Internet.

"Our goal is to have a computer that is hooked into our fiber optic backbone and the Internet on every faculty member's desk by the end of FY 1997," Dobbins said.

Lawmakers also appropriated $38.9 million in general operations funding for Southeast, a 7.4 percent increase over last year.

The university expects to get all but 3 percent of the general operations appropriation. The governor routinely withholds 3 percent of the funding for all state agencies.

The funding for Southeast is part of the $13.7 billion state budget that the legislature last week sent to the governor.

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