WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Heather Meacham, a racetrack industry senior, moves boxes in the department's office in the Marshall building yesterday. Meacham has been laboring for the move-in for the last nine weeks, she said.

From the vast bird's eye view of campus to bigger and cleaner offices, the Louise F. Marshall building provides a new home to many excited UA departments.

Students and faculty who moved into the new Marshall building, located on the corner of North Park Avenue and East North Campus Drive, are more than happy with their new home.

The unification of the various departments is a big plus in the new building, said Craig Caldwell, department head for media arts.

"Media Arts used to be in several locations on campus," he said. "Now we are unified in one place, and people will be able to find the department."

Tangelina Joe, an undeclared sophomore and student office assistant, said the centralization of the different departments is very good in the new building.

"It's a big upgrade from Franklin, and it accommodates a lot more people," Joe said. "Latin American studies and Judaic studies are all localized and together."

The Marshall building will be home to several UA departments, including media arts, near eastern studies, Judaic studies and journalism.

In addition, the center for Latin American studies, the center for Middle Eastern studies and the racetrack industry program will also make their home in Marshall.

Despite construction teams finishing up with details, most of the departments have settled in and resumed business as usual, with the exception of the journalism department.

The journalism department was expected to move into the new building at the end of last week, but the move was postponed due to problems with the electrical system, said Paul Johnson, senior academic advisor for the journalism department.

"We have over 100 computers, so the postponement deals with having to redo the electrical system in the new building," Johnson said. "The move is now tentatively scheduled for the end of the semester."

The journalism department, Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Near Eastern studies were all located in the Franklin building.

The journalism department is the only program that has not yet made its way down the road.

Johnson said everyone was disappointed when the move was postponed and they are eager to move into the new location.

"There is no way that I want to stay here," he said. "We will have more room and usable space; we won't know what to do with ourselves with all the modern conveniences."

The Franklin building will be torn down following the departure of its last inhabitants.

"We will hold classes in Marshall starting in summer," Johnson said. "Assuming that everything is ready - or else we will be teaching out of our cars."

Beth Marlatt, business manager for Near Eastern studies, said the move would benefit everyone because of the problems with mold and allergens in the Franklin building.

"This is not a sick building," Marlatt said. "The Franklin building was sick and had a lot of allergens."

The only complaint that Julia Santucci, a Near Eastern studies graduate student, said she had about the new building was the cubicles that gave the office a more "corporate" feel than there previous location.

"The Near Eastern studies office had bigger rooms, and now (it has) cubicles," she said. "But there is a lot more light and windows than in the Franklin building."