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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us September 29, 2005 Some old, some new at SOU By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Students detour around construction Wednesday at Southern Oregon University’s Stevenson Union, which is slated for completion in early winter. Jennifer Squires | Ashland Daily Tidings Elmo’s food court in the Stevenson Union opened Wednesday, two days after fall term classes at Southern Oregon University began. The glass doors for buffet-style food service, Subway and the convenience store should be hung by the end of the week. Upstairs, the Multicultural Center remains locked and unoccupied during the first week of school because the doorway opens into the final area of the building closed for construction, but student leaders are beginning to move computers into the James Sours Student Leadership Center on the building’s third floor. “It’s not fully functional by a long stretch and you can see there’s still a long way to go,” said Steve Ryan, the vice president of administration and finance for the Associated Student of SOU. And so go the slightly behind-schedule renovations to the student union. “We’re open, obviously,” said Joe Rich, the interim vice president for student life at SOU. “I would say it’s, in some cases, on schedule. In some cases it’s behind.” The $7 million project was slated for completion sometime in November and the crew believes it can still make the deadline. All that remains is the fourth and final phase — the east side of the third floor — even though finishing touches that were supposed to happen a week ago are still being wrapped up. “We made it as far as occupancy and getting it open,” said Edwin Lockard, the project superintendent for Skanska, a Beaverton-based company hired to renovate the 40-year-old building. Across campus, the Madrone Street residence hall, a new pod-style living facility on campus, was two-thirds completed when students started moving in a week ago. The final rooms will be done in the next week or two, officials have said. Classrooms complete Although construction deadlines have slipped by, the push to get new professors in classrooms this week was successful. The university hired 10 new instructors, including George Quainoo, Ph.D., to head the new material science emphasis in the physics department, and three new theater professors. Two years ago, SOU faculty proposed a material science curriculum — a combination of engineering, physics and chemistry — and a state program for enhancing technology education at state universities granted Southern $205,000 to fund the program for the next two years. “I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm from both chemistry and physics,” said Joe Graf, the dean of the School of Science. “I think the students will see that there are good opportunities. ... Right now it’s the chance for students to get on the pipeline to a really exciting career. It’s where people think things are going.” Meanwhile, the university hired three instructors to get the theater program going toward national prestige and membership in the National Association of Schools of Theatre. Laurie Kurutz, Eric Levin and Ezra Severin will teach courses in behind-the-scenes aspects of theater. Their presence at SOU drops student-to-faculty ratios in the department to less than 30:1. The programs Southern would like to compete with boast a 14:1 student-to-faculty proportion. “What these positions are beginning to address is the significant increase in enrollment and scope of the department’s enrollment,” said Chris Sackett, the chair of the theater arts department. The theater program has grown from 30 students when the building, which was built for 60 students, opened in 1982 to more than 230. Plans to add onto the theater building and hire more new faculty members are in the works, but funding has not been secured. Six other assistant professors were hired to fill the ranks this fall, including two each in criminology and communication. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams