The 103-year-old home of the mathematics department, Fenton Hall, is about to get an extensive facelift to bring it into the modern age.
The renovation, a deferred maintenance project approved by the state legislature, will add seismic structural upgrades to protect the building from earthquakes, an elevator to increase accessibility for those with disabilities and a retrofitted, more energy-efficient heating and ventilation system.
Project planner Gene Mowery said he hopes to begin construction in June 2010 so that students and faculty are able to use the building again by fall 2011. The project has an expenditure limitation of $5,591,900.
Math department head and associate professor Hal Sadofsky said the main reason for the project is the lack of an elevator. 
“It’s a three-floor building with no elevator,” he said. “In fact, you can’t even get to the department office without climbing stairs.”
Sadofsky said math professors occasionally hold office hours in the Lillis Business Complex to accommodate disabled students. Once, a professor had to be moved to a temporary office because of an injury that prevented him from climbing stairs.
The renovation will also give planners a chance to slightly change the layout of Fenton Hall. Mowery said such projects often involve “a fair amount of interior demolition.”
However, the specifics of the renovation are still up in the air.
“We’re at the front end of the process, still clearly defining what the work is,” Mowery said.
“We have a user group together that involves math department folks, members from University (Knight) Library, School of Architecture (and Allied Arts), et cetera. We have good representation.”
Sadofsky said the math department is excited about the renovation, even though it means the department will temporarily lose its home.
“From our point of view, it’s kind of a mixed thing,” Sadofsky said. “We hope to get a better space, but it will be difficult and awkward to be out of the building for the year.”
Sadofsky said he doesn’t know where the math department offices will be located in the meantime. Trailers on campus are a possibility, but he’s not sure.
“It’s a good question,” Sadofsky said. “I ask it every couple of days.”
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