Campus facelift: technology buildings renovations

This is the last of a four-story series previewing the major building projects coming to Kent State, which were approved at the Sept. 12 Board of Trustees meeting. This installment focuses on the new building for the College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology.

What it is:

The College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology needs a new building because its current home — Van Deusen Hall — is technologically outdated, said associate dean I. Richmond Nettey. The building is more than 60 years old and is also starting to leak.

Senior aeronautics major Cristen Futcher said moving out of Van Deusen Hall will benefit the college.

“I have heard of certain classes having to be moved to other buildings because they are too big for Van Deusen’s classrooms,” she said. “Also, it is just a very old building. It is not as technologically advanced as other buildings on campus.”

What it will be:

The college’s new building will be bigger, more open and technologically advanced, Nettey said. It will be located in the university’s “science mall” across from Henderson Hall.

“A new building positions the college to pivot into the future to educate students into the new century, and will also be drivers of technology and change into the future and beyond,” Nettey said.

Futcher said the new building won’t affect her, but she hopes it benefits younger students.

“I would like to see those who were younger than me get the chance for a more convenient learning environment,” she said.

Budget:

Total cost: $15 million

— funded by a $170 million bond the Board of Trustees approved this summer. All bond projects are partially financed by the new university course-overload fee. Students who register more than 17 credit hours are charged $440 for each additional credit hour.

Building timeline:

The new technology building is a high priority for the university because emptying Van Deusen Hall will allow the architects to potentially use that building for other projects — like the consolidation of the School of Art buildings, said Thomas Euclide, associate vice president of Facilities, Planning and Operations.

Euclide said the project already has an architect, but he did not say when construction will begin. University officials have said 80 percent of the five main bond projects will be completed by 2015.

Contact Carrie Blazina at [email protected]

and Shannon Fox at [email protected].