The displaced faculty and staff of the English department are thrilled that the revitalization of Eddy is on schedule for our spring/summer return. When I toured the building — thus, the hard hat — I could see the potential. What are now just holes in concrete will carry pipes (or maybe just the ducts — we were moving quickly, and my lack of specialist knowledge may be showing here) for the new heating and cooling system. A set of steel bars in the northwest corner of the first floor marks off a lounge area. The sharp hammer blows on concrete floors and walls prepare the way for the roomier Writing Center, designed with features that improve functionality and aesthetics. Our third floor home is eerily unchanged except for a slightly smaller Eddy 300 computer lab that makes space for a lounge area in front of it and the west wall where there are now 5 offices roughed out in the space that held the Eddy library and 3 offices. Eventually, doors will be refinished and there will be new paint and, possibly, flooring, but now those are still just plans.

The windows are in, the exterior walls are clad with spandrel (a stone-like material), and the new atrium becomes more real every day. Students (more than 10,000 a day), faculty, and staff will have a much better place to teach, learn, and work by the fall semester of 2015. We appreciate the work of all the people on campus and in Denver who played any role in this complicated and exciting project. Believe me, the number of them would amaze you. The tireless work of Bruce Ronda and Tony Flores, especially, deserves acknowledgment. Thank you.