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Oklahoma State University

Going Big in Coming Home

By Terry Tush

Tim Ireland knows his way around Oklahoma State University. If you don’t believe it, just ask the longtime faculty member for a tour of the Stillwater campus. The management science and information systems professor has spent nearly 40 years teaching OSU business students, and those classes have taken him to all reaches of the 1,489-acre campus.

He’s taught students in nearly every building with a classroom. Business Building, check. Classroom Building, of course. Human Sciences, check. Journalism and Broadcasting, been there, done that. Engineering South, check. Life Sciences West, another check. The 110-year-old Morrill Hall, yes. Ag Hall, check. Gundersen Hall, another yes. He even taught in Home Economics East, which no longer exists.

“They even tried to put one of my classes in the Seretean music building once,” says Ireland, who began teaching as a graduate assistant in 1977 and joined the business school’s management faculty on a full-time basis in 1981.

In recent years, as the Spears School of Business continues growing — it is currently the 26th-largest undergraduate enrollment in the United States (out of more than 500 business colleges) — faculty members like Ireland have found themselves teaching in classrooms in buildings all across campus. To complicate matters, the five classrooms that were available in the current Business Building were lost when construction began on the new building a year ago. Now, there is only one 45-seat classroom in the basement of the building, with the Watson Trading Floor also being used for classes.

So, more than 4,700 OSU undergraduate business students and nearly 1,000 graduate students are taught all over campus.

But that’s about to change, and Ireland and his counterparts in the Spears School are anxiously looking forward to relocating about 50 yards north. In January 2018, after moving into the new 147,450-square-foot building, OSU business students will have in one building a place where their learning needs are met for the first time in years — classrooms, breakout/team rooms, meeting areas, even a coffee shop.

“I’m really excited about the new Business Building and the opportunities we’re going to be able to have here,” says Nathan Herrmann, a junior in accounting. “I really like the open floor plan and how all the classrooms and the different student areas all flow together. Right now, it can be a little difficult just because you don’t see all the students because we’re spread all over campus, but I think it’s going to be great having all the students, faculty and staff in one building. We’ll be able to see each other, have a lot more interaction, and just get more time with the Cowboy family.”

The new state-of-the-art Business Building was designed to focus on meeting the needs of current and future business students.

“Oklahoma State is known for being a great community, and I’m excited about the new Business Building because as a business school we can finally be together as a community,” says Kennedy Jones, a sophomore entrepreneurship major. “I can definitely picture myself coming here every morning and honestly just hanging out, grabbing something from the coffee shop, getting stuff done before class, going to class, eating lunch, grabbing snacks, working on group projects … this being my home base.”

The new five-floor building (including a basement) will transform the way faculty members teach and students learn as well as revitalize the impact future generations will have on the business world. That begins with a multitude of classrooms, breakout rooms and meeting spaces throughout the building.

While the building will include 13 classrooms, 17 breakout/team rooms and numerous other meeting spaces, the 30,306-square-foot basement will be a hub of activity. The basement will have six classrooms and eight breakout/team rooms (each able to accommodate six to eight students).

The Le Norman Auditorium is a 150-seat room, the largest meeting space in the building. Some of the Spears School’s largest classes will utilize this space, meaning Ireland, his colleagues and students won’t be trekking across campus any longer.

Five other classrooms in the basement will be large enough to accommodate about 60 students:

  • Deloitte DATA (Data Analytics Technology Applications) Lab
  • Wesley E. and Mary Lea Sample Family Classroom
  • Leitner and Ken Greiner Technology Classroom
  • BancFirst Classroom
  • BKD CPAs and Advisors Classroom

Outside of the classrooms will be breakout/team rooms that can be reserved by students to work on projects together:

  • Hogan Taylor Breakout Room
  • Pregler Family Breakout Room
  • Bob and Peggy McCormick Breakout Room
  • KPMG Breakout Room
  • Grant Thornton Breakout Room
  • Three (3) Donor Named Breakout Rooms

The Student Organization Room will also be in the basement for use by the more than 20 Spears School student groups. This room will be available for meetings and include enough space to store items for the different student organizations.

“There will be two distinct advantages in the new building,” says Ireland. “First, we’ll have classrooms of different sizes to accommodate all class sizes.

“Secondly, one of the problems now is a lot of students don’t come to the building unless they need to see a faculty member. I think students will be in the building on a consistent basis, and there will be more interaction between the faculty and students. One of the real plusses will be spaces for informal settings for faculty and students. We’ve never had a lot of student meeting space in our current building, and that’s going to change. It will definitely be a big benefit of the new building.”

In addition to the basement, students will benefit from other spaces throughout the building. The first floor will include another classroom (with 65 to 75 seats), the Watson Trading Floor (50 to 60 seats), two student lounges and an open computer lab.

A pair of classrooms (each with seating for up to 80 students) and the graduate student lounge will be on the second floor. The third floor has a master’s student classroom (20 to 24 seats), four interactive team rooms, two Ph.D. seminar rooms (8 to 12 seats), and office space for more than 50 Ph.D. students. Four more interactive team rooms are on the fourth floor.

“I’m so excited to move in starting January 2018,” says Katelyn Byrne, a sophomore marketing major. “I’ll be a junior at that point, so I’ll actually start taking classes in the Business Building. So I’ll get to move in (and) be one of the first students. I’m just so excited. It’s going to be a great opportunity.”

Names Spaces

Basement

  • HoganTaylor Breakout Room
  • KPMG Breakout Room
  • Pregler Family Breakout Room
  • Bob and Peggy McCormick Breakout Room
  • Grant Thornton Breakout Room
  • Herod Family Breakout Room
  • Le Norman Auditorium
  • Deloitte. DATA Lab
  • The Wesley E. and Mary Lea Sample Family Classroom
  • Leitner and Ken Greiner Technology Classroom
  • BancFirst Classroom
  • BKD CPAs and Advisors Classroom

First Floor

  • Chesapeake Energy Student Advising Office
  • Eastin/ISN Center for Talent Development
  • The Jack Allen Family Education Foundation Genius Bar
  • The Riata Center for Entrepreneurship
  • Stephen and Diane Tuttle Accelerator
  • Watson Trading Floor
  • ConocoPhillips Student Lounge
  • Center for Advanced Global Leadership & Engagement (CAGLE)
  • EY Entrepreneurial Zone

Second Floor

  • Dr. B. Curtis Hamm Classroom
  • Michael and Anne Greenwood Distance Learning Center
  • Watson Graduate School of Management
  • ExxonMobil OSU Alumni Sticky Space
  • The Elwell Family Sticky Space
  • Nix Foundation Team Room
  • The Massey Family Classroom

Third Floor

  • Norman and Suzanne Myers Dean Suite
  • Howard Thill Team Room
  • Julie and Claude Connelly Team Room
  • John and Caroline Linehan Conference Room
  • Robert and Sharon Keating Team Room
  • The Rapp Foundation Team Room
  • Dr. Lloyd Garrison Ph.D. Seminar Room

Fourth Floor

  • The Calvert Family Sticky Space
  • Stinnett & Associates Tactical Briefing Room
  • Dr. Wilton T. Anderson Office of the School of Accounting
  • Dr. B. Curtis Hamm Office of the School of Marketing & International Business