This article was originally published prior to June 2, 2013.  Due to a change in content management systems, the initial publication date is not available.

With Baker University close to reaching its 150th-year anniversary, renovations of old and outdated buildings can be expected soon.

Baker’s science building, Mulvane Hall, which was completed in 1925, has proved no longer up-to-date and was moved to the top spot on the list of buildings on campus in need of renovation.

In preliminary discussions on how to better provide for students, plans for a completely new science building were being drawn up. The proposed building would have been the new home of science students, while Mulvane would have been renovated for another purpose.

“During the previous stages, we just made a wish list-type science building,” Professor of Chemistry Gary Giachino said. “This would have been this humongous building. This magnificent facility was going to cost around 30 million dollars.”

While this plan was very appealing to the science department, the overwhelming cost quickly made it an unrealistic goal.

“We decided we can’t raise that kind of money, and the architects got back to work to see what they could do with around 20 million,” Giachino said. “They came back with two plans: one was build a new facility in the original location, scaled down. The other was to renovate Mulvane.”

Building a scaled-down version of the new building would have only left room for lab space, and Mulvane would have continued to provide science classroom space. However, the distance between the location of Mulvane and that of the proposed new building provided some problems.

“The consensus was that the new building would not be adequate because it was going to be basically laboratory space, and most of us, I think, felt to have the lab space that far divorced from the lecture areas was not a good thing for students. Then that left us, of course, with the renovation of Mulvane,” Giachino said.

For many professors looking forward to a new facility, the change of plans to a renovation of Mulvane may not have sparked as much excitement.

“I think at first there wasn’t as much excitement because we had spent a lot of time looking at the new building, but I think (in) looking at the plans for the renovations and additions to Mulvane, people are getting more excited,” Professor of Mathematics Jean Johnson said.

Much like the plan to construct a new building, the plan to renovate Mulvane came with its own pros and cons.

“Well, obviously a pro is it’s not going to cost as much money, and it won’t take as much time; we need the space as soon as possible,” Professor of Biology Darcy Russell said. “A con is we will have to live in this building while they are working here because where would they put us? It won’t be pleasant.”

The renovations to Mulvane will be beneficial not only to science students and faculty, but the added space will provide a plus for math students, as well.

“I think for the lab sciences it will help quite a bit because there will be some very nice new labs,” Assistant Professor of Mathematics Kelly Bach said. “We will have new classes and more student space, so as for as mathematics go, we will have more space for group work.”

Sophomore Tiffany Bagsby said she thinks extra space will be nice for students taking science courses.

“More space would work better, especially with labs, because it seems like all lab equipment is crammed into one space,” Bagsby said. “New labs would give more room to leave equipment out. It’s so cluttered that the space would be really good.”

Giachino said the addition of student space is the main priority for many of the professors.

“There is no student space in (Mulvane),” Giachino said. “I think all of us expect to find a really nice building where the students will want to come and want to hang out in the evening even when there aren’t classes.”

Junior Sarah Romereim said she appreciates the student priority expressed by Giachino.

“I think it’s a great goal,” Romereim said. “There are always going to be issues with security and letting students in with expensive equipment and without professors, but it would be really helpful.”

While various floor plan options are being discussed, no final decisions have been made on design, nor has a start date been announced.