New business campus in works

The UW Business School is finally ready to push itself out of its decaying home in Mackenzie and Balmer Halls and into a state-of-the-art campus, including three brand-new buildings and a completely renovated Balmer hall, with a massive glass atrium connecting the five-building campus.

With last week's $10 million donation from the Foster Foundation, bringing the business school's total to $58 million toward its $105 million goal, the business school is now looking to gain approval from UW administration to start the project's design phase.

The business school has already spent close to $500,000 in a two-year pre-design process for a conceptual idea of both what the buildings will look like and what they will include, said Pete Dukes, associate dean for undergraduate programs at the UW Business School.

Under construction

The new facilities will be built in the same space the current business school buildings occupy.

"We have to wrap around the space we have," said Vance Roley, acting dean for the UW Business School. "We are curving the new buildings around Balmer and into the N-4 [parking lot]."

Balmer is being completely redone; however, it will have classrooms only on the first floor, due to structural conditions that cannot be changed.

"The main problem [with Balmer] is not having an adequate building for modern classrooms and there is no way to remodel because of the low ceiling and pillars," said Roley.

The Business School administration is also vacating its current home in Mackenzie Hall. Mackenzie currently houses administrative and faculty offices that will be moved to the new buildings upon completion.

"Right now Mackenzie Hall is the primary building for faculty and administration and it is fairly cramped and not particularly useful for creating a sense of community," said Christina Bailet, interim assistant dean.

Mackenzie Hall will be turned over to capital projects, which will then be responsible, with the provost, for determining the building's fate.

"Mackenzie has been identified in the capital master plan for demolition," said Colleen Pike, acting director of capital and space planning. "Condition assessments have indicated that the building is not in good condition and does not warrant a lot of investment for the building."

More than a decade ago, UW Business School administrators looked at their humble home in Balmer and Mackenzie halls and knew there was work to be done.

"When [former] Dean Das Gupta came in 1999 he looked at our buildings and saw that they were not up to par," said Dukes.

According to Dukes, the business school knew it was not even close to the top of the list of capital projects for the University, so the school set out to build its own building using mostly private funds.

A glance inside

The business school's classrooms are far behind peer institutions such as Stanford, whose smallest classroom still holds 85 people, said Roley.

"The largest classroom holds 57, but only really has 45 good seats," said Roley. "Fifty-seven is too small. We find it difficult to compete in terms of cost ... with peer institutions."

The new buildings will feature classrooms uniquely designed to give students big classrooms with a small feel to them. They will be arranged in a "friendlier semi-circle" with tier seating and good sight limits, said Roley.

"We learned when we looked at other states' institutions that you can take an 85 person class and make it intimate and interactive," said Dukes.

The buildings will also feature the latest in information technologies, such as wireless Internet, a 300-seat auditorium and small rooms to facilitate classes that require interactive work.

"We are planning for more break-out rooms for students to be able to meet and work on group projects," said Bailet. "They will provide a much better environment for learning to take place."

In addition to building new structures, the business school administration is also hoping to build a strong sense of community. To aid in building a community, plans include meeting areas for both undergraduates and graduate business students, including an atrium similar to that of the computer science building, said Dukes.

"Students will get to know each other better and network with faculty," said Dukes of the atrium. "The faculty will be far closer to the students and will be able to rub elbows with them. We want that informal interaction to build a community and we think a building can help design interaction like that."

The effect on students and faculty

"[The students] are going to be the primary beneficiary," said Bailet.

In addition to providing a better space for students to learn with better classrooms and break-out rooms, the new buildings will also provide the opportunity for the best faculty to teach, said Dukes.

"We are putting our best face in front of the students," said Dukes. "What students are going to see are better instructors on average."

According to Dukes, this is possible, because in some cases the school, due to small class size, has to hold four sections to accommodate all the students, causing the business school to hire two people. This results in having one as a better teacher than the other.

"With bigger classrooms we can have a great instructor in front of the entire group," said Dukes. "So we can be more selective about the instructors we put in front of the student body."

Two years ago the business school set a goal to increase the number of tenure track faculty from 72 to 105, said Roley. The school currently has 79 and plans to use the new buildings to boost recruitment efforts.

"I take potential candidates into Balmer ,and I can't do that with a great deal of pride," said Dukes. "The classroom is what signals to potential candidates that the University is supporting us and that we have a commitment to great education. It is a key part of our recruitment effort so [the new buildings] will help us a great deal."

Time and money

Recent gifts, such as the donation Foster Foundation last week, have put the school in the position to ask central administration for approval to begin the detailed design phase.

"I think we will get started at the beginning of [2005] sometime," said Roley.

The business school needs to raise $105 million to complete the project, said Roley. Currently the school has more than $35 million in gifts from private donors and an additional $23 million committed from the University, specifically to renovate Balmer Hall.

"We have to raise the remaining money before we break ground on the new facility," said Roley. "We basically have two years."

After the detailed design phase, which according to Bailet is projected to take 18 to 24 months, the school will break ground on the new facilities.

According to Roley, the three new buildings will be completed first so all classes and offices can be moved into the new facilities while Balmer is under construction.

Roley hopes the new facility will raise the UW's high business school ranking.

"I think this will help us in the ranking," said Roley. "We're ranked quite well ... but I think our faculty and students are better than that. What's holding us back is the facility."