Multiple AACC math professors have expressed “disappointment” that plans to make room for math faculty and their classes in the soon-to-be-renovated Dragun Building fell through.
The college approved a plan to build an addition to Dragun and move some of the math classes to the add-on. Because of rising construction costs, work on Dragun will continue without the addition, forcing math to stay where it is.
Art Cimiluca, the assistant dean of the Math Department, compared the Math Building with the Health and Life Sciences Building: “It’s like a night-and-day difference,” Cimiluca said.
He added that many professors choose to hold office hours at home virtually because of the noise and lack of privacy in the Math Building.
Jim Taylor, the executive director of administrative services, said the math professors are “probably frustrated because they knew they worked with [the Facilities Department] on the program to relocate them over to the [Dragun] Building.”
Taylor noted that the Facilities Department is collaborating with the Math Department on solutions.
Abigail Brackins, a math professor, elaborated on possible accommodations, such as “offices that are large enough for the entire Math Department to collaborate together [and] classrooms that are up to date, that are designed with math in mind.”
Brackins said the condition of the Math Building not only affects faculty, but also the students who are “complaining” about the Math Building.
Mary Kassebaum, who chairs the Math Department, said the size of the offices limits the way professors can work with their students.
“If I say I want to meet with my students in my office, there’s room for about six students to wait for me out the front,” Kassebuam said. “But then there’s only room for me to work in my office with one or two, maybe three if my officemate is not there, and so I have to hold my office hours and my homework session somewhere else if I want to work with more than a few students at a time.”
Kassebaum holds her office hours in the Humanities Building because of the size of her office.
Kassebaum said she is “very happy for all of the professors who have wonderful office spaces and who are getting new spaces to work with their students. But we do think that it’s time for math to be the priority next. We have seen a lot of new renovations and buildings, and we recognize that there is not money all the time for everything. But we would point out that every student who gets a degree at AACC takes a math class.”
Zoë Sharp, a second-year psychology and creative writing student, said “going into the Math Building reminds me of attending public schools that were falling apart and clearly were not receiving the funding that they deserved.”
Michael Daily, a second-year transfer studies student, said the Math Building “could use some sprucing up. … You can tell that it is old.”