UCA’s Geography Club sifted through stacks of cardboard boxes to spruce up the newly renovated third floor of A.E. Burdick Hall during X-period on Thursday, February 5.
After a fire broke out on A.E. Burdick Hall’s first floor in May 2022, the building is finally finished with reconstruction and the UCA geography community rejoices in its return home after nearly four years of displacement.
The restoration was on a university-wide level, but the Geography Club led the event, using decorations they had on hand in the facility, according to Stephen O’Connell, the club’s advisor and Department of Geography’s Chair.
“We were putting up a lot of posters that were done by students or faculty,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell said the posters include maps that the department had in its collection for years.
President of the Geography Club, Cade Adams, said the group’s goal was to “create an environment for students, made by students that’s comfortable and inviting.”
To put the plan in motion, Adams said he reached out to Dr. O’Connell.
“It was really easy communicating with him,” Adams said. “He just gave us the posters, and we decided to decorate.”
Club members and volunteers hung posters along the walls of A.E. Burdick’s third floor, as well as inside the Geography and Environmental Applications Research Lab, or GEAR Lab.
The lab allows students and professors to conduct research focused on GIS, spatial and environmental analysis of different locations, acting as a headquarters for UCA’s geography community.
A.E. Burdick Hall’s restoration has led to an overall expansion of the geography program. Several new facilities, labs and offices have been built across the building’s third floor.
The classrooms will feature upgraded SMARTBoards, projectors and workstations.
The Department of Geography is currently accepting funding through the UCA Foundation and alumni donations.
Naming and dedication donations for the facilities range from $5,000 to $30,000, with the GEAR Lab’s donation cost set at $25,000.
Dr. O’Connell said that the implementation of these new facilities will lead to the department’s future growth.
“Having the students here and having the students invested in making it their own is really the first step in the long-term security of the program,” Dr. O’Connell said.
The A.E. Burdick Business Administration Center was dedicated on campus in 1972, named after the second Chair of the Department of Geography, A.E. Burdick.
The Geography Department moved from Irby Hall to A.E. Burdick in 2014, where it stayed for eight years before a fire displaced the department along with other occupants.
The fire ignited on the first floor of A.E. Burdick Hall during the 2022 spring semester exam week.
The fire itself did not spread throughout Burdick, but the smoke and soot damaged the building, resulting in a long displacement period for many students.
The incident occurred just two months after the GEAR Lab was fully implemented as a headquarters for geography students.
O’Connell said the refurbishment is “an ongoing process,” and says that the renovations have given the department the opportunity to make Burdick Hall their own.
“It is good to be back,” O’Connell said. “As geographers, we really focus on the meaning of ‘place’ and how important that is. It was a little weird to not have our own place for the better part of eight semesters. So now that we’re back, we’re kind of putting our stamp on it.”
