The College of Business Administration was previously located in Calvin Hall, which was constructed in 1908, but has now moved to a new space. Construction on the new business building began in November 2014 and was recently completed in August.
Mary Carnes, junior in entrepreneurship and art, said it feels very different from Calvin Hall.
“Calvin Hall was a high school-type feel with tiny desks and chairs,” Carnes said. “This building has spread out tables and chairs so you don’t feel too close to the next person.”
Carnes said the classrooms are styled more like a boardroom meeting.
“It totally feels like a business or corporation, so it definitely fits the business feel,” Carnes said. “It took me a bit to get used to the tall ceilings and airport-feel with elevators everywhere.”
The expansion has also brought growth, according to Molly Myers, senior administrative assistant for the management department. She said the business faculty has grown from 90 to between 100-110 people because of the growth the building brought.
Myers also said that everything is a lot more spread out now.
“Kevin Gwinner, our dean, is working hard to make sure that we don’t lose the closeness culture we’ve had as we grow and spread out in the building,” Myers said. “I have a lot more space than I did before. Our storage is spread out and we have a conference room, refrigerator and microwave for everyone to use that will help bring us together.”
Lisa Grause, program associate for the college, said the space will provide more opportunities for planning events to continue the close community between the faculty and staff.
“We’re very much spaced out here so we can go a week or so without seeing some certain people but I think our culture is very strong still,” Grause said. “We do a lot of events with our faculty and staff and now we have space and big conference rooms to hold big meetings and keep the closeness alive.”
Grause also said the new space is good for showcasing the College of Business Administraton.
“With event planning, it’s nice to not have to go someplace else and showcase our own building,” Grause said. “We’ve never had a classroom as big as the 250-person lecture hall so we will definitely have guest speakers come and lecture in there.”
Michael Mayo, president of Ebert Mayo Design Group which was chosen as part of the architecture team for the new business building, said all the lighting in the building uses energy efficient LED fixtures. On the exterior, all glass is triple-glazed ultra-clear glass, with two long emissivity coatings for energy conservation.
“I personally like the atrium with the stacked glass conferences rooms looking out on the trees along North Manhattan Avenue,” Mayo said.
The four-story building features more than 48 study rooms, 90 faculty and staff offices, a 250-person lecture hall, a Student Success Center and more than 20 classrooms and computer labs, all encompassed in 160,143 feet of space.
