By Andrea Candrian
After nearly 25 years in the Knight Mangum Building, the Math Lab has finally made its home in the Talmage Building with the rest of the Math Department.
The Math Lab will be holding an open house Thursday, Jan. 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 159 TMCB to celebrate the opening of the new lab.
The move took place in October, but was just recently completed, said Lynn Garner, department chair of mathematics.
'We were waiting for the new furniture to arrive,' Garner said. 'We wanted to be all set before we celebrated.'
The open house, which will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, is open to the entire BYU community.
'Instead of a bow and a ribbon, we hope to have a moebius strip,' Garner said. 'And we''ll let people wonder what that is.'
The Math Lab was established in 1977 and was housed in the library for two years before moving to the KMB.
The department tried for years to get it moved to the TMCB with the rest of the Math Department.
When the new data center was built, the space where the computers had been in the north wing of the TMCB became available.
'We had to figure out how to do it with a very small budget,' Garner said. 'And it worked. Before this, there just hadn''t been space.'
The Math Lab employs around 65 students as tutors and secretaries.
The lab offers tutorial help to students from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Katja Muench, 22, a sophomore from Hoyerswerda, Germany, majoring in Mathematics, is a secretary for the Math Lab and agrees that the change has many benefits.
'It''s almost doubled the space then we had before,' Muench said. 'It''s a lot nicer since there''s more room. We also have a lot more TAs then we did before so they can get more attention.'
Garner agrees that it''s a great resource for students, and added it is also a place for tutors to practice teaching math.
'They discover whether they like teaching math or not,' Garner said. 'It''s especially good training to those who are considering math teaching.'
Perhaps the biggest benefit is to those who may have been confused by where the Math Lab actually was before.
Nathan Mulholland, 21, a sophomore from Wolcott, NY, majoring in English Teaching, said he has been questioned several times about the Math Lab''s location.
'One night walking home from the library, a bewildered student who thought the Math Lab was in the KMB, desperately asked me ''Where is the Math Lab?'' Regretfully, I didn''t know,' Mulholland said. 'So it''s a good thing they''re having a grand opening to let everyone know where the Math Lab is.'