Facility is key element of plan to make Livingston Campus hub for business, professional studies
The state-of-the-art, 155,800-square-foot building will provide much needed space to accommodate significant program expansion and increased interest by students in earning a business degree. The facility, at 94 Rockafeller Road on the corner of Avenue E, will be designed by TEN Arquitectos, a firm of international stature, founded by Enrique Norten.
“The new Rutgers Business School building is a key component of the university’s long-term initiative to develop the Livingston Campus into a center for business and professional studies,” McCormick said. Rutgers’ president envisions a more vibrant Livingston Campus in the coming years as home to many revenue-generating education programs, new apartment-style housing for 1,500 students and eventually a hotel and conference center, in addition to the new business school facility, a state-of-the-art dining commons and a newly renovated and expanded student center.
When he announced his comprehensive vision for the Livingston Campus in his 2007 annual address, McCo
Plans for the new building are consistent with the large demand for the school’s four-year undergraduate program for Rutgers-New Brunswick students. Fall 2012 undergraduate applications for business in New Brunswick have increased more than 45 percent from last year. It is projected that between 2011 and 2013 the school will grow from 1,900 undergraduate students to an enrollment of about 3,000 undergraduates on the New Brunswick Campus while graduate enrollment continues to rise.
“The new building shows Rutgers’ commitment to providing first-rate business education for students from New Jersey and around the world,” said Shafer. “Our partnerships with scientific and technological disciplines at Rutgers give our students access to new skills businesses need in the information economy.”
The building’s major components will include space to accommodate five business school academic departments and associated research centers with each organized in identifiable clusters with dedicated faculty offices, visiting scholar offices and conference/meeting room space.
Instructional space will include a business library, classrooms of varying size and purpose for teaching undergraduate, graduate and executive MBA students. Breakout rooms for group study, an Executive Education Center and a Global Financial Center that features a showcase-quality trading floor also will be incorporated.
Common areas will offer lounges, food service areas, event activity space and a business center that will encourage exchanges across disciplines, departments and specialties. The dean’s office suite and space for the undergraduate business program, MBA program and Career Management office staff comprise administrative areas of the building. Occupancy is anticipated in fall 2013.
Construction for the $85 million project is supported by a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor that was part of a $13 million gift to the university’s $1 billion “Our Rutgers, Our Future” campaign. The remaining $3 million was used to establish the Bennett L. Smith Endowed Chair in Business and Natural Resources, named for the late geology professor who retired from Rutgers in 1974. At the time, the gift was the largest private donation in Rutgers’ history. The anonymous donor has since pledged an additional $27 million to the campaign.
Media Contact: Daniel Stoll
973-353-5879
E-mail: dstoll@business.rutgers.edu