Faculty members dodged electricians wiring the building and workers patching holes and powerwashing the cement as they began moving into David Boyd Hall.The Graduate School faculty started moving into the building Thursday even though construction is ongoing, said Bill Worger, Graduate School dean.For the first time, the Graduate School will be located in one building, said Marie Hamilton, Graduate School assistant dean.”The idea is to create space for students to feel welcome,” Worger said. “Not just office and faculty space.”Worger said the workers are opening up the lobby with Wi-Fi in David Boyd Hall and creating a conference room for faculty and students to use. The Graduate School can now host events to honor students and have open houses in its own building, Worger said. Worger said he was pleased with the progress on the building.Hamilton said money to renovate David Boyd Hall came from the University, and 98 percent of the work was completed by campus construction workers.The building should be finished in January, and the school has plans for a grand opening in March, Hamilton said. The Graduate School wants to show people it finally has a building, she said.”[We] want people to see where we are,” Hamilton said.Hamilton said the building has been around since 1924. Inside the hall, students used to pay their fees at a vault, she said. The room is now used for storage but still has the thick fireproof walls surrounding it.The main door to the building will now be the main entrance, and it’s been sealed off for a long time, Hamilton said.Brooks Keel, Office of Research and Economic Development vice chancellor, said one of the reasons for moving the Graduate School into its own building is for the two departments to have their staff in one place.Keel said the Office of Research and Economic Development used to be part of the Graduate School dean’s jobs until it was separated into two departments.Keel was hired in 2006 to fill the role. He said it “makes sense” to have the graduate school staff under one roof and the research department together in another building.Keel said he wants to increase the number of research grants. The goal is to increase graduate enrollment by 20 percent, so the research department needs to increase grants to match the numbers, he said.A large part of the Graduate School is researching, and the department wants to provide more resources, faculty and laboratories for students, Keel said.—-Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]