The College's computer science faculty may focus primarily on issues in cyberspace, but in recent years, the department has found itself badly in need of office space, too.
The answer is a $4.2 million expansion of Sudikoff Hall, begun Fall term of 2003 and expected to be completed by this fall. The new addition, linked to the back of the current building, will increase the building's floor space by about 50 percent and hopefully accommodate the computer science faculty and staff for years to come.
"The addition to Sudikoff will also allow the entire computer science department to be under one roof," said Mary Gorman, executive officer to College Provost Barry Scherr.
Currently, the offices for many computer science graduate students are located in Bradley Hall, Gerry Hall and other buildings on campus, Gorman said. Locating all faculty and staff in the same building will presumably facilitate teaching, research and departmental administration.
Jeffrey Sudikoff '77 -- who donated over $3 million to renovate Sudikoff in 1993 and was convicted of insider trading in 1999 -- contributed $2 million toward the most ongoing construction, Gorman said.
Sudikoff served one year in prison for fraud and filing false forms in conjunction with a scandal at IDB Communications, a California-based group he chaired. Federal attorneys called the suit "the largest insider trading case ever prosecuted in Los Angeles."
Gorman declined to speculate about the ethics of accepting money from Sudikoff given his past.
"I know he gave a generous gift," Gorman said.
Builders have agreed to a number of restrictions in order to minimize the commotion of construction, Gorman said, but some undergraduates living in the area have still reportedly complained.
The building site is near Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Church of Christ and the Spanish-language affinity house La Casa.
"Facilities Planning tries to provide as little disruption as possible when there is construction next door," Gorman said. "They try to have heavy trucks come after 8:30 or 9 a.m., although there are people working in the building all day long."
Computer science students reported that the construction is sometimes disturbing but usually bearable.
"I know people in La Casa think it's a big issue, but it hasn't been that bad for us," said Beau Roysden '04, a computer science major who regularly works in Sudikoff. "They were taking out part of the wall the other day in the lab right next to the construction, though."
Altogether, the Sudikoff expansion will add five large computer labs and five small labs for undergraduate use as well as eight more offices for faculty, 24 offices for graduate students and three offices for postdoctoral students or visiting professors.
