Parade of books and boxes to new Ezell Center begins
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The Department of History, Politics and Philosophy kicked off three days of moving Monday for Lipscomb faculty currently housed in the Burton Bible Building.
The College of Education and Professional Studies, the College of Bible and Ministry, the Provost’s Office and the new Institute for Conflict Management will fill out the rest of the brand new building sporting high-tech “smartboards” in classrooms, television and radio studios, a coffee shop and a chapel with a stained glass window.
“The whole building is highly functional. We’re very pleased with it,” said Earl Lavender, Professor of Bible, who was among the few faculty who moved in a little early. He already had his wall covered in plaques and honors by mid-day Monday, thanks to his industrious wife.
His favorite thing about the new building is that the Bible department support staff, Janis Adcock, “who does most of the work around here,” will be right outside his door in the new location, he said.
Piles of boxes sat waiting to be unpacked outside other faculty offices -- up to 23 outside one professor’s office.
“I had 20 boxes, and I know others who had more than that,’ said Bill Collins, professor in the history department, who on Monday was methodically placing book after book in his five bookcases.
In fact, that’s what most faculty moving in on Monday were doing, unpacking piles and piles of books, books and more books.
Richard Goode, chair of the history, politics and philosophy department, had a good portion of his bookcases filled on Monday, but had already identified about five boxes worth of books that would have to be kept elsewhere. And he still had boxes sitting outside his office.
His old office in Burton used to be called the “book bunker,” he noted.
The Ezell Center also boasts a cutting edge geothermal heating and cooling system that uses underground wells to heat and cool the air, eliminating the need for an expensive chiller and boiler.
Facilities Director Don Johnson said the new system is humming along nicely despite the record heat in the week before move-in.