With the addition of seven new smart classrooms, DuSable Hall’s latest building updates will launch it into the 21st century.

Construction was originally scheduled to start after the Spring 2001 semester, but delays, such as ordering back-ups and design problems, pushed the date back to Aug. 10.

“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right,” said Fred Smith, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences.

The building only will be worked on during off-peak hours, after 6:00 p.m. and weekends. Students and staff should experience little disturbance.

“Workers are prepared to work until midnight,” said project manager Jim Bryant. “These kinds of hours are not unusual.”

New projects will begin in DuSable over winter break, including new windows, revolving doors for energy efficiency and a canopy over the entranceway for students waiting for buses.

The smart classrooms are ready for professors and students to use.

Keith Bisplinghoff, smart classroom technical adviser, explained smart classrooms as “technologically enhanced classrooms that put the newest video, audio and computer technology in the hands of the professors.”

Smart classrooms include a computer with Internet access and an electronic overhead projector allowing professors to project transparencies, opaque and three-dimensional objects, as well as any printed material.

With the addition of these new smart classrooms, DuSable holds a total of 18 located on the first and second floors.

“We are in the midst of this project,” Bisplinghoff said. “By 2004 we should have all our smart classrooms finished in DuSable. These classrooms are some of the best technologically advanced classrooms in the nation & so much so that a lecturer from CalTech was very impressed upon his visit.”