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Campus Hums With Construction Sounds


Walk along College Street and listen up. Amid the noise of thousands of campers, Mississippi College is also alive with the sounds of construction crews this summer.

Self Hall, headquarters of the School of Business, is in the midst of a project to build more faculty offices in the basement. Some of the work is going on this summer with the task to be completed in the summer of 2010.

The project at Self Hall is part of a mult-million dollar renovation of the 1960s era building. The work was launched in 2007. Previous work included new classrooms, a modernized auditorium and the installation of the latest technology.

With nearly 1,000 students, the School of Business is the largest school at Mississippi College that enrolls nearly 4,900 undergraduates and graduate students.

Other ongoing projects on the Clinton campus include a new sprinkler system and other improvements at Chrestman Hall, renovations at the Leland Speed Library and work at School of Education.

Bursting at the seams with students this summer, the School of Education is adding another faculty office on the 4th floor, said dean Don Locke. Housed in the former MC library, the school plans to welcome a couple of new faculty members in August.

At Leland Speed Library, library director Kathleen Hutchison welcomes a little construction noise in a place where peace and quiet rules. "Although no work has started yet, we are scheduled for all new interior paint plus new stair treads," she said. "There will be a new circulation desk on the main floor plus a new soft seating area in the lobby. The reference room will have all new tables and chairs."

The library's second floor, Hutchison said, will "have some new tweaks as well." For students, checking out the renovations will soon become as popular as checking out books.

At the Mississippi College School of Law, two construction projects are grabbing the attention of faculty and students on the campus in downtown Jackson. MidState construction crews are working on four offices in the building's top floor. MCSOL is also "removing old desks and putting in new desks in two classrooms on the second floor of the main building," said Dana Terry, the law school's public relations director.

The list of MC projects goes on rain or shine. Over the summer, there is a good deal of regular maintenance, renovation and roofs and equipment replacements, said Steve Stanford, vice president for administration. "We have been fortunate to be able to address many deferred maintenance needs for the second summer in a row."

Of particular note, Stanford said, will be updated smoke and alarm systems in every MC residence hall needing such improvements.