University construction is still underway on four major campus projects, which University administrators say have not been affected by the economic crisis. Admissions staff explained that prospective students and their families are excited by the idea of the construction and improved facilities.

The projects currently underway include phase one of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, the Ridgewood Residence Halls, in which most of the suites will be open for occupation in the spring, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Admissions Center and the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Construction on the new admissions center is scheduled for completion in summer 2009.

Vice President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman explained in an e-mail to the Justice that all the construction projects had previous gift funding and/or approved debt funding, so the economic crisis has not impacted any facet of construction.

Currently, admissions is using offices in the Bernstein-Marcus administration buildings, and admissions staff are pleased with the quality of the temporary space.

In regard to the new admissions center, Feldman wrote in his e-mail, "Construction has just begun and is going well. We have just begun [the] forming and pouring of footings for the new building."

Dean of Admissions Gil J. Villanueva explained, "Like everyone else [at the University] we're really excited to get this done because it is going to be a fabulous new place."

Villanueva said he thinks the temporary admissions space will not affect this year's applicant pool. "This is a great new site. One would think this has always been the admissions office. The University has done a remarkable job converting this office space; it feels really like home."

Assistant Director of Admissions Katy West explained to the Justice in an e-mail that prospective students and their families have not been put off by the construction projects.

"Most students and parents that I have spoken with are actually excited by all of the construction going on around campus. They take it as a sign of positive campus development and are happy to see that facilities are constantly improving," West said.

Chemistry Department Chair Prof. Irving Epstein told the Justice by e-mail, "The Science Center Renewal Project is a very positive development for the Chemistry Department. It will provide greatly improved undergraduate teaching laboratories and modern research laboratories for several of our faculty members."

He said the new space will be used for a variety of laboratory courses and house research laboratories for faculty members doing work in the areas of physical and biophysical chemistry.

Phase one of the new science center's construction is slated to finish in January 2009 and is scheduled to be occupied by February. Two of the existing science buildings, Friedland and Kalman, are expected to be demolished in the summer and fall of 2009, respectively. Feldman told the Justice last August that phase two of the science complex renewal project will be the construction of a chemistry building on the footprint of Kalman.

Epstein explained that while the construction period has been difficult, the Chemistry department is optimistic that when the new facilities open, teaching and research efforts will benefit significantly from the availability of modern facilities.

Construction on the Mandel Center for the Humanities is expected to begin in June 2009. Feldman said, "The architectural firm Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood [is] currently working on developing construction documents for the project."

The Mandel Foundation provided a $22.5 million grant for the new building. According to a Brandeis press release, Morton Mandel said at the groundbreaking of the new center that they chose Brandeis for the foundation's gift because of the University's "character, passion and soul."

Feldman explained in his e-mail that for every construction project, a project advisory group is formed in order to provide input to the design team. This allows students, faculty and staff to help design the facilities.

"The makeup of this group depends upon the project. For example, a residence hall advisory group will, of course, have more student representation than faculty representation, [as well as] representatives from the Offices of Student Life and Residence Life," he wrote.

Feldman wrote that although construction is a complex process that one enters without entirely knowing what the outcome will be, the construction projects are going well thus far.