The electricity is back on in Goldring/Woldenberg Hall I, and an army of contractors is working overtime to ensure that the building—home of the Freeman School's undergraduate program—is ready for business when classes start up again in January.

“I was told today that it absolutely will be ready,” says Jerry Hagebusch, associate dean of the business school. “It took a hard hit, but it's starting to look good.”

That's a far cry from a month ago, when driving rains soaked several offices and floodwaters filled the building's ground-level classrooms. “I'm not sure how deep the water was on McAlister, but in our building it got as deep as six feet in Room 131,” Hagebusch says.

It took workers from recovery contractor Belfor a week to pump the water out of the building, Hagebusch says. Since then a crew of 75 has been hard at work removing carpets and furniture, stripping walls and ceilings, and meticulously cleaning and drying the building's underlying frame to prevent the spread of mold. “We had other water damage and mold in the building, but that's been contained,” Hagebusch says. “The priority is of course the classrooms.”

While some wiring and computers may have to be replaced, Hagebusch says the building's computer servers remained high and dry and all essential files had been safely backed up prior to Katrina's arrival.

Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II, the business school's newer building and home to its graduate and executive programs, fared much better. Hagebusch says the building experienced no flooding. Although a number of windows on the building's northwest side were damaged by debris or high winds, none of the laminated hurricane-resistant windows shattered and no rain got into the building. “We could start classes tomorrow,” says Hagebush. “To go into one of those classrooms, you'd never know there'd been a storm.”