After nearly two years, renovations on the fourth floor of Jardine Hall are coming to a close.

The Office of Research will return to Jardine after nearly 20 years of being relocated in the NIAR building.

The new fourth floor of the building will include the Office of Research on the west side of the hall, and faculty offices for the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Departments on the east side of the hall.

John Tomblin, vice president for the Office of Research and Technology Transfer, explained that one of the primary motives for moving the Office of Research was to make it more centrally located on campus for faculty and students.

“Talking with a number of faculty,” Tomblin said, “the move decentralizes where the Office of Research is located, with respect to the rest of the university.”

The decision to make the move came from working with deans from all the colleges, and with University President John Bardo’s executive team.

“What we want is the faculty to be more engaged in research grants,” Tomblin said. “It creates more opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students.”

The renovation also provided an opportunity for the upgrade of faculty and graduate assistant offices for MCLL. Wilson Baldridge, the chair of MCLL, said the renovations were much needed for the 85-year-old building.

“There were issues with the HVAC,” Baldridge said. “The heating and the air conditioning on the fourth floor was not ideal, really hot in the summer, and cold in the winter.”

French instructor Hetty Bailey will move back to the fourth floor after having moved to Brennan Hall I before the start of the fall semester.

“It’s going to be so much more convenient to be near the office, the copy machine, where my classes are,” Bailey said. “It will be wonderful. It’ll be good to be back in the same place.”

Another building on the campus undergoing improvements is Clinton Hall, which is becoming ADA-accessible and -operable, which means it will be in accordance to the American Disabilites Act. Bill Potenski, an architect with WSU’s Physical Plant, said Clinton Hall badly needed improvements.

“The stairs were deteriorating, and (the) ramp was settling,” Potenski said. “We needed to get that fixed. We can’t repair it, it needs to be removed and replaced.What we are doing is taking the stairs and the ramp, and then we’re putting in an ADA-compliant ramp.”