The Tawes Fine Arts Building received $900,000 for renovations.

When Gov. Bob Ehrlich released his capital budget, which includes funding allocations for state construction projects, there was one item the university had been waiting 18 years to see.The $181 million appropriation for public higher education includes a $900,000 allocation for a design budget for renovations to Tawes Fine Arts Building.

The English department is awaiting the $26.6 million renovation, scheduled to begin in 2008, before moving into its permanent home there.

John Porcari, vice president for administrative affairs, said the university has been asking for Tawes funding for more than seven years.

In 2003, university President Dan Mote asked the General Assembly for the nearly $1 million design project, but the university had to be patient since the state was strapped for cash.

And now after almost a decade, the plan could come to fruition.“It has been a No. 1 priority by the university,”

Porcari said. “We wanted this really badly.”

“It will be the first home [the English department] has to themselves for 18 years,” Mote said. “We were able to convince people in Annapolis that this project needed to be funded. This is very exciting. We all worked very hard on this project.”

Charles Caramello, chairman of the English department, said he took legislators and regents on tours of Tawes last semester, convincing them to fund the renovation.

The department is currently housed in Susquehanna Hall, which was built as an $8 million temporary “surge” space for various departments. The English department moved there from Taliaferro Hall in 1991.

“It’s a really good opportunity for the English department, and because so many students take English, it will really benefit a large number of students,” Caramello said.

Porcari said the department’s current location in Susquehanna Hall limits faculty members because some are forced to double up in office space and English classes are scattered around the campus. With Tawes located more toward the center of the campus, it will create an easier access for students.

Having the department in Tawes will also help the university recruit and retain faculty and graduate students, Caramello said.

“Tawes as a new home is going to significantly enhance the ability to give students a first-rate education,” he said.

Ehrlich’s capital budget also includes $3.6 million for the Biosciences Building currently under construction near the Biology-Psychology Building. The extra funding comes on top of the project’s $56 million budget and is needed for its completion, Mote said.

The Biosciences Building will house as many as 35 faculty members, and each project could bring in $400,000 in grant money, Mote previously told The Diamondback. The building is not designed for classes, but part of the funding will be used to renovate the large lecture hall in the Biology-Psychology Building.