The Communication Arts Department expects to gain approval from the Board of Regents to relocate to ex-residence facility Sanford Hall as early as summer 2013.

“The University Space Planning Committee has recommended that we go into Sanford,” Department Chair of Communication Arts Dr. Pam Bourland-Davis, Ph.D. in mass communication and public relations, said. “As far as I know, there was no other recommendation exceptfor communication arts.”    

Sanford Hall, which was used as a university residence for students living on campus, has been gutted for renovation to be used as classrooms and offices for faculty members, Bourland-Davis said.

“(Sanford) is going offline as a residence hall and right now there are no new buildings,” Bourland-Davis said. “From what I’ve heard, it may take another two dozen years, supposedly, before a brand new building comes on campus, so it will be a new renovation. (The renovation) will be similar to (Veazey) but designed a different way to where we don’t have columns in the middle of our classrooms.”

Veazey Hall has been a headquarters for the communication arts department for three years, after moving from trailer classrooms where ROTC is currently located, according to Bourland-Davis.

“We came out of the trailer building that ROTC uses now and we had been in modular buildings for about nineteen years, so we were just happy to be in brick and mortar and as communication faculty and students, we just worked around (the columns),” said Bourland-Davis.

Michael Smith, dean of liberal arts and social sciences, notified faculty that communication arts would be relocating to a different building, Bourland-Davis said.

“This (move) would provide comm arts with a new permanent home, hopefully by July/August 2013,” Smith said. “The campus request to renovate Sanford has been submitted to the Board of Regents and we are awaiting approval.  Everything looks good and we don’t anticipate any problems with BOR approval.”

Any facility issues on campus have to go through Board of Regents approval, whether it’s a new building or, in this case, redoing another building and repurposing it, Bourland-Davis said.

Bourland-Davis made a wish list that contains features that faculty and students would like to see in Sanford to fulfill the department’s needs.

“I would love for it to have a broadcast studio and broadcast channel 99 as well as WBGS. Our problem right now is just that we don’t know if it will fit in there. I would love for it to have a large classroom — 125-to-150-seat classroom that would have broadcast capabilities so that when we have guest speakers, we could do C-SPAN-style coverage on channel 99 and other events that take place there. It would be some kind of auditorium,” Bourland-Davis said.

Comm arts classes are currently spread all over campus, including locations such as Forest Drive, Carroll, Newton, Hollis, Carruth, Education, COBA and two lab classes in IT.

“There weren’t a whole lot of buildings that we didn’t have classrooms in,” Bourland-Davis said. “It’s kind of hard to have meetings on the third floor of Veazey Hall, it feels a little cramped. We’ve got six faculty sharing three offices on the second floor. It would be nice for everybody to have a little elbowroom.”

Teachers were relieved to find out that their classes will no longer be located in more than one building, according to Bourland-Davis.

“I think it’s terrific and look forward to it, I’m glad we’ll all be together,” Graham said. “I hope it will be a place where students get a sense of community and home.”