Building A New Home For The College of Business
To maintain its position as the region’s business school of choice, the Kelce College requires an inviting facility that fosters students’ pursuit of active learning experiences, encourages students and faculty to collaborate, and promotes the engagement of students and faculty with the business community. The college aspires to provide students with an academic home that inspires innovation and nurtures entrepreneurial talents.
The College of Business has outgrown its home for the past 37 years. The building was originally constructed in 1950 to serve as a laboratory high school and was converted for the college’s use in the mid-1970s. Today, it is one of the most heavily utilized buildings on the Pitt State campus with more than one thousand business students enrolled each semester. The university’s recent space utilization study noted the following building needs that must be addressed to continue offering high quality business education:
- more spacious and flexible classrooms to accommodate modern teaching pedagogies
- seminar rooms for advanced undergraduate and MBA courses
- team rooms for student collaboration and group projects
- an electronic classroom for courses requiring student access to online resources
- meeting spaces for student organizations
- offices for graduate assistants, student organization leaders, and visiting executives
- a board room for advisory groups and faculty meetings
- additional faculty offices and departmental spaces to accommodate growth
- public presentation and gathering spaces
In addition, the college requires additional space to advance and expand its burgeoning outreach activities in business and economic development. Furthermore, a new facility would provide the university with the opportunity to relocate existing business service units, to capture the synergies provided by proximity to the academic functions of the college. Shared spaces between the business outreach centers and the college would offer the opportunity to host small conferences and to provide professional development workshops and programs to the public.
Gallery
Floor plan
- First Floor
- Second Floor
John & Susan Lowe Leading the Way
In 2015, PSU business alumni John and Susan Lowe pledged $3 million to develop start-up plans and designs for facility improvements of the Kelce College of Business. John and Susan Lowe both earned their Bachelor of Business Administration degrees in 1981. John worked for more than 30 years with ConocoPhillips and held various executive positions. He is on the board of directors of Phillips 66 and TransCanada Corporation, board chairman of Apache Corporation, and Senior Executive Advisor to Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. John credits his accounting instructor, retired professor emeritus Guy Owings, for his career choice and direction. After a selection process, Clark Huesemann Architects of Lawrence, Kan., were chosen to work with the building committee to plan and design the building improvements.
The Kelce College achieved a major milestone in 1996 when it was awarded accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Accreditation by AACSB places the Kelce College of Business in the top five percent of business schools in the world. The Kelce College’s MBA has received numerous accolades and rankings over the years, including this year’s #4 ranking by The Princeton Review as “Most Family Friendly.”
Contact
Holly Kent
Director of Development for the College of Business
Contact Holly online
Email: hkent@pittstate.edu
620.235.6096
888.448.2778