Faculty members who were relocated from Blair Hall will return in April.

The departments are scheduled to move back into the renovated building during the first two weeks of April. It has been almost two full years since the fire that destroyed much of Blair Hall that forced many faculty members to scatter across campus.

Adrienne Paladino, the International Programs office manager, said her department is getting ready to move back to Blair Hall.

“We are going to pack whatever is in our desks and cabinets and go,” she said.

The furniture used by the relocated departments is being left behind and new furniture is awaiting them in their renovated offices.

Paladino and the International Programs Office are currently in Booth Library.

The hardest part of this transition has been trying to handle the separation between departments, Paladino said. However, she said the adjustment has been a positive one because the people in Booth Library were wonderful to work with and made everyone feel welcome.

She said everyone is excited and looking forward to a newer and better facility, and the hardest part of moving back will be leaving their new friends at the library behind.

“I’m going to miss the people in Booth Library because we’ve gotten attached to them,” she said.

The sociology and anthropology departments moved immediately from Blair Hall to the old Clinical Services building along with other departments after the fire. The department was then given a temporary home in Pemberton Hall’s dining room when the Clinical Services building was prepared for demolition as part of the Doudna Fine Arts Building project.

Sociology professor Debbie Cunningham said the adjustment to being shuffled around offices and now working in cubicles in a dining room has been nothing short of a challenge.

“We invented a new form of communicating – standing up and hollering,” Cunningham said. “It is difficult to communicate but we’ve really gotten to know each other.”

Cunningham has been inside Blair Hall already and said the new offices look nice, and the whole renovation went well.

“Words can not express how grateful we are to be moving back,” she said.

The Graduate School, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and the School of Continuing Education have been working out of the Consolidated Communications building on Lincoln Avenue. They are scheduled to move back into Blair Hall April 10 and 11.

The motto for William Hine, dean of the School of Continuing Education, and the rest of his department has been “Have tote, will travel,” and they are counting down the days to move-in day at Blair Hall.

The building has been completely renovated and looks absolutely stunning, said Graduate School Dean Robert Augustine.

“It has been challenging but we’ve learned how to cope with the challenges,” Augustine said.

He said the entire department is looking forward to working together in the same building again.

Hine also said there have been difficulties with the transition along the way, but the department has worked hard to maintain its student services.

Hine said during this time of adjustment he couldn’t feel more appreciative of his dedicated staff and the great support everyone received from the president and provost of the university.

“The university community responded extremely well in helping us,” he said.