The Graduate School of Social Work will soon get rid of all of its bathrooms for the time being. Faculty and students don’t seem to mind.

Thanks to a fundraising campaign, the school has raised almost $8.5 million to begin a major renovation to its 53-year old building, Spruce Hall. The building’s 38 bathtubs and bathroom space no one uses will be renovated to provide better facilities.

The school announced a $4 million donation from the Rebecca T. and James P. Craig Foundation at the school’s 70th anniversary dinner last October. The building will be named after this foundation. Since then, faculty and alumni have worked to reach their $9 million goal.

The building’s space will increase from 26,000 to 52,000 square feet. Students and faculty can look forward to having six “smart” classrooms, equipped for visual aids, video production and online communication. It will also house a virtual library and adequate space for research projects. The expanded space will accommodate the new Institute for Families, which conducts child welfare research and trains all Colorado child welfare workers.

Other advantages include having more space for the Bridge Project, a community outreach program, and the Institute of Gerontology.

The school was told it needed to evacuate the building June 1 so that the renovations could begin. However, that deadline might be too soon. As of now, the university has not found any room to house the graduate school while construction takes place.

The department of Human Communication is in the same bind. The university might haul trailers on to campus to hold the departments or relocate them into Pioneer Hall.

Parking might be alleviated somewhat when Columbine Hall is demolished and a new tier parking lot is built.

Despite the setbacks, Director of Development Anne Bryan said the renovations could not have come sooner.

“This is a wonderful improvement for our school,” Bryan said. “It is enormously important to have adequate facilities so we can continue to provide quality graduate programs.”