Engineering building nearly finished

After two years of being just one of the many construction sites on campus, Levine Hall will soon graduate to become the new home of the Computer and Information Science Department. Although the official inauguration will be on April 9, this new building, located on the East side of campus, will begin to host the department in March. A definite move-in date has not yet been decided, but administrators are confident that work will be finished by the end of next month. "The goal is to get all the furniture in by February and the people in by March," Director of Facility Planning of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Ira Winston said. The construction of Levine Hall is a direct response to the growth of the CIS Department in both size and prestige. "Our department has been undergoing a transformation over the years... and the new building is a part of that," said second-year Engineering graduate student Anne Bracy, who serves on a committee that will assign offices to faculty and graduate students. The department is now experiencing an increase in both the number of its faculty members -- from 25 to 35 -- and class size. "The department has been successful enough to have the ability to fund more faculty members," Bracy said. "The increase in class size is definitely noticeable." The building was named after Melvin and Claire Levine, who donated $5 million of the $20 million necessary for its construction, the remainder of which was generated through fundraising. Connected to both the Moore and Towne buildings on all six floors, Levine Hall has been designed to allow as much contact as possible between the Engineering departments housed in each facility -- as well as between disciplines. "The professors will be more connected, so that they'll have an idea of what each is doing," said Engineering senior Nick Burrow, a CIS major. Also, the building's architecture was designed to allow students to locate their professors more efficiently, which will facilitate student contact with faculty and possibly create new chances for academic relationships between them. Levine Hall will host a number of new facilities, including classrooms, faculty and graduate student offices, department offices, laboratories and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 150. The building will also house the General Robotics and Active Sensory Perception Laboratory, also known as the GRASP Lab, which is currently located at 3401 Walnut Street. Along with these structures, Levine Hall will also be the home of the Cyber Cafe. Located near one of the entrances -- a spot marketing researchers carefully chose -- this coffee shop was designed to be a place where students and faculty could come together to relax. To reach the building, landscapers are creating a new path called Chancellor Walk, which will pass behind Bennett Hall and the Music Hall, leading directly from Walnut Street to Levine Hall. Students are excited about the possibilities Levine Hall will offer. "It is going to be a great thing for the Computer Science," Burrow said.