Next week, the final beam needed for the new Welcome Center at Morgan Hall will be put into place.

Washburn officials will celebrate this milestone with a Topping Out signing ceremony at 11 a.m. on Wendesday, Oct. 29.

The signing ceremony, which will take place on the north side of Morgan Hall, will mark the light at the end of a very long tunnel which began in when renovations on Morgan began in February 2014.

The beam, which measures nearly 17 feet long and 323 pounds, will be signed by university officials and then mounted during the week of Nov. 3.

Exterior construction on Morgan Hall is expected to last through December of this year. Interior renovations will get underway early next year.

Dedication for the new Welcome Center at Morgan Hall is scheduled for October 2015, in conjunction with Washburn’s sesquicentennial celebration.

For more on the renovations at Morgan Hall and around campus, visit Washburn.edu/Construction.