More than $500,000 spent by CMU on Moore Hall renovations

Advertising professor Dr. Johnny Sparks sits working in one of the new offices completed as part of renovations made to the second floor of Moore Hall. A conference room and storage space were also new additions.
(Chuck Miller/Staff Photographer)

Central Michigan University spent more than $369,000 to upgrade Moore Hall TV equipment and another $185,000 to make renovations to the second floor of Moore Hall.

Salma Ghanem, Dean of the College of Communications and Fine Arts, said underutilized space on the second floor was converted into six offices, a storage space and a conference room.

“The renovations were necessary because we had additional faculty joining us this year and we didn’t have offices for them,” she said.

Ghanem said the money came from carryforwards, which is money that was not spent in previous years.

Journalism professor Johnny Sparks said the renovations were desperately needed.

“I arrived early for my new position on the journalism department faculty and did not have an office during my first  six weeks on campus. I worked in a conference room. The reallocation of the space was essential. Apparently, the faculty had outgrown the Moore Hall office space,” he said. “I commend Dean Ghanem for utilizing Moore Hall’s limited space to meet our college’s growing teaching and research needs.”

Introduction to Communications graduate assistant Robert Hinck  said the renovations were huge and the empty room behind Moore 223 was a waste of space last year.

“There was a nasty sink in one of the offices and random closet space that wasn’t being used,” Hinck said.

The Department of Journalism hired three new professors who needed offices, Elina Erzikova, a journalism faculty member, said.

“To me, turning one big room into five small offices was the solution,” she said. “As for further changes, I would like to see a coffee shop in Moore Hall. Yet, considering the fact that space is limited, it will probably not happen.”

In the future, Sparks would like to see more renovations made to Moore Hall to make the building more state of the art.

“I would love to see a new state-of-the-art communication and fine arts building that is consistent with the best facilities on the CMU campus,” he said.

Students were unaffected by the changes to Moore Hall because renovations only occurred in offices, storage rooms and conference rooms, which are used by faculty only.

Peter Orlik, director of the school of broadcast and cinematic arts, said Moore Hall TV equipment upgrade was much needed. Orlik said it was an analog studio with 17-year-old equipment that was completely redone in high-definition.

A one-time grant from Ghanem helped to finance the cost. The BCA undergraduate program was determined priority one status by CMU’s Program Prioritization Process, raising the budget for equipment. This money was also used to finance the upgrade, which took all summer.

- Staff reporter Austin Stowe contributed to this report.