The computer labs for the communication and foreign language departments in Webster Hall and the criminal justice department in the Mills Anderson Justice Center are being upgraded.

According to Jeff Pooley, director of technical support, the school’s goal is to replace systems in all computer labs every three to four years, although this is not always possible. In the past two years, eight computer lab systems, including these two, have been replaced.

The communication and foreign language departments’ lab was originally set up to the foreign language department’s liking.

The computer monitors are under glass tops, which left room for students to lay their books on the glass while doing listening exercises on the computer.

While this layout worked well for the foreign language department, students have been visiting the lab less frequently.

One reason may be because there is now another lab for students do language listening exercises. Another theory is that students look in the room and see only desks and headphones and do not understand that it is a computer lab just like all others on campus.

Dr. Robert Clark, head of the department of communication, says in the past the lab was the nicest in Webster Hall and many students visited it, but more students now go to the social sciences department computer lab on the second floor or Spiva Library to use the computers.

In the communication and foreign language departments’ computer lab, the monitors under glass will be replaced with new flat-screen monitors that sit on the top of the desk. The new computers will be faster, which will help with programs that are used in the lab, such as language programs, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and the three small printers that are now used will be replaced by one large, multi-purpose printer.

The complete renovation of the two labs is scheduled to be finished within the month, but because classes are held in the labs, the new equipment may not be fully usable until the beginning of next semester.

“I think new computers for the lab will be beneficial for students across the campus,” said Drew Deardorff, senior mass communication major, the communication and foreign language department lab assistant, “It will help them accomplish what needs to be done faster and more efficiently.”

The cost of the renovation to the communication and foreign language computer lab is $33,879, and the criminal justice department lab will cost $40,185.32.

The funding for the renovations comes from a variety of sources such as student equipment use fees, grants and gifts from benefactors.

When computer equipment is no longer useful on campus it is entered into a state surplus property sale.