1 MEMORANDUM To - Providence College

MEMORANDUM
To:
Mark Rapoza, Assistant Vice President for Capital Projects and Facilities Planning
From: Sylvia Maxfield, School of Business Dean
Margaret Ruggieri, Assistant Professor of Accountancy
Co-Chairs, PCSB Building Committee 2.0
Date: March 4, 2013
Re:
Providence College School of Business Building Committee – Recommendations
The Providence College School of Business Building Committee 2.0 is pleased to submit our list of
recommendations for a proposed new academic facility which will support the Providence College
School of Business (PCSB) Program. PCSB Building Committee 2.0 includes members from various
stakeholder groups including students, faculty from PCSB and non-PCSB departments, administrators
and members from the PCSB Business Advisory Council. We have used the extensive research and
needs document prepared by PCSB Building Committee 1.0 (submitted to you on February 1, 2012;
Appendix A) to guide us in prioritizing our recommendations. We are confident that our building
requests are strategically aligned with the mission of Providence College and the programmatic needs
and identity of PCSB for future generations.
Overarching Vision
The Providence College School of Business supports and builds on the broader institution’s mission and
core values. As detailed in our mission, the PCSB endeavors to provide a values-based business
education, integrated with the liberal arts and grounded in the Catholic Dominican tradition. Our
teaching, learning, curricular and cultural missions explicate that we are committed to providing
students with learning-centered programs that foster critical thinking and the formation of interpersonal
relationships. To do this, the PCSB has a three-part strategic vision that bridges the PCSB’s first strategy
planning cycle (2008-2013) and its future strategic goals: to embrace and become an authority on
innovative collegiate and post-graduate business education, to leverage our liberal arts setting as a
source of competitive differentiation, and to promote business skills and knowledge for social good.
Our curricular aspiration is to increasingly blur the traditional line between traditional classroom
curriculum and co-curricular activities such as internships and student-led projects in the service of
“real-world” connected learning opportunities. It is also to ground students in ethics and socialconsciousness
so they may become values-based leaders in the business world. Our unique
integration with the liberal arts rests on the Dominican tradition in education emphasizing capacity
for reflective self-awareness and ability to integrate competing perspectives by grasping the broad
context of personal and professional decision-making.
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Core Objectives
The building should blend the core purposes of providing a learning environment for students and
teachers and place of work for faculty and staff. Several core objectives for the new facility are
necessary to allow the PCSB to achieve its vision:
1. Provide appropriate instructional and community space to facilitate teaching and learning,
encourage faculty-student interaction and motivate student engagement in a post-accredited
PCSB.
2. Provide administrative and office space to support faculty and support staff within the PCSB,
including regular, full-time faculty from the Departments of Accountancy, Finance, Management
and Marketing, adjunct faculty supporting the undergraduate business program as well as those
supporting the MBA program and administrative personnel supporting both the undergraduate
and MBA programs.
3. Provide for the future growth of the PCSB, including accommodating the needs of the Ruane
Chair and planned academic centers of excellence aligned with PCSB strategy including a Center
for Innovation in Collegiate Business Education and for Values-Based Leadership in Finance and
Accounting.
4. Enable the PCSB to position itself to capitalize on opportunities to connect with the business
community, a critical element of excellence in collegiate business education, by ensuring
appropriate space for PCSB groups and events as well as presentations involving the business
community and outside guests.
5. Support a new culture of enthusiasm and excitement for the PCSB and help establish the PCSB’s
identity as an important part of the Providence College community.
Specifically, to meet our programmatic needs, our building will require:
1. An “Atrium” gathering space – this space should be open and welcoming and reflect a buzz of
informal energy. The space should foster the sort of student-centric, energetic and engaged
culture we are striving to create; it encourages students to use the building as more than just a
place to attend class or stop by for an office hour, the space should signal to students that the
PCSB is about them and provides space for them to informally meet with other students, read
and study, eat between classes and mingle with faculty. It should also be as inviting and open as
possible to students from across campus to signal the PCSB’s unique integration with the Liberal
Arts core of Providence College. Additionally, it signals to visitors (prospective students,
prospective faculty, companies and members of the business community) that the PCSB is a
vibrant center of student activity and academic involvement.
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This space should be located in close proximity to a café/dining area where food can be
purchased. Design will have to balance the desire to make a first impression through this space
as a student-centered PCSB while addressing faculty and administration concerns about noise.
This space needs to be multi-functional with adequate storage space for furniture to facilitate
multiple set-ups.
We envision the atrium as featuring an award case highlighting student and faculty
achievements, several TV’s broadcasting business news, an automated scroll with a list of
upcoming PCSB events and potentially tile or wall etchings that might highlight the connection
between the PCSB and the Catholic perspective on the marketplace (e.g. quotes from Pope John
Paul II’s Centesimus Annus encyclical).
2. Student eatery/café – to facilitate the creation of a lively space where students feel they can
come and stay for a while, they need easy access to food. Lower campus is famously short of
such places. The new building should have a café that is a campus-wide, community friendly
space where students, faculty and visitors can enjoy “breaking bread” together. With limited
access to eateries on east campus the eatery/café needs to be “sufficiently stocked”
(sandwiches, soups as well as “grab and go” snacks, coffee, etc.) so the option to sit and stay to
eat is inviting. This space should be integrated with the atrium; where “semi- confidential”
conversations can take place if needed in the “corners” of the atrium. To avoid queuing
problems found at other eateries on campus, it is recommended to have separate beverage and
food checkout lines.
3. Classrooms – The PCSB’s classes are currently all face-to-face offerings at both the
undergraduate and graduate level. We offer roughly 150 3-credit hour undergraduate
classes/class equivalents per term, meeting during the College’s daytime class section blocks.
80% of these classes have seats for 25 students, the remainder range from 25 to 40 students. In
the MBA we offer approximately 10 sections each semester in blocks between 4 and 10 pm.
These classrooms should hold 40. Having business classes taught within the business building
has various programmatic benefits. Currently many business courses would benefit from
occasional co-mingling - an organizational behavior class and an audit class might get together
to discuss the dysfunctional behavior at Arthur Andersen, for example. However, currently
these courses are often scheduled in different buildings across campus, making such a
pedagogical approach difficult and impractical. In addition, when students take more of their
business classes in a single building, it will enhance the esprit de corps and foster crossdisciplinary
conversations among business majors. All classrooms should include suitable
technology to support the PCSB’s curricular vision. These classrooms will be available to the rest
of campus.
2-3 Computer Labs (Trading Room/Finance Lab) – the building should include 2-3 classrooms
with computers capable of running specialized software as needed to deliver our finance
curriculum and other curriculum using large datasets and related data management software.
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Given the PCSB’s commitment to leveraging the momentum of the recently established Student-
Managed Investment Fund, one of these rooms should be equipped dual monitor machines,
ticker and other live media projection capability, clocks with multiple time zones, etc. to
simulate a trading floor experience. Our inclusion of “Computer Applications in Business” in the
PCSB undergraduate core curriculum also mandates computer lab facilities. We also strive to
build a mutually-beneficial and closer tie to the PC Computer Science Department and hope to
incorporate teaching space for “big data” related courses that can serve both the growing
information focus of business education and the computer science department. One of these
facilities should include machines and seating for up to 50 students, while the others should
hold up to 30 students.
4. Flexible 125 person capacity Classroom/ Meeting Space – this space is needed to
accommodate both the instructional needs and operational needs of the PCSB. The Intro to the
Profession course in the Accountancy curriculum is required for all junior accountancy majors.
This course enrolls approximately 100 students and is offered as a “speaker series” course
(offered at only one-time during the semester). The Finance department is proposing a similar
course for its majors in the near future which will have a similar enrollment. In addition, there
are special lectures and events throughout the semester that need to accommodate up to 100+
PCSB students and faculty. With the elimination of Moore Hall’s three large classrooms there is
a need for a large instructional space in the PCSB building. Operationally the PCSB needs
meeting space for the PCSB monthly faculty meetings (50+) and BAC meetings (currently 50
members). The student organizations, such as Future Friar Executives and the Accounting
Association have large memberships which could also use this space for meetings. This space
needs to be flexible; having seating and lighting that is conducive to a smaller capacity when
needed.
5. Several “Breakout” rooms – breakout space is essential for small group work. There is a strong
programmatic demand for small group space including but not limited to break out for group
work during class time, out of class student group projects, team presentation practice, student
group meetings, interview sessions, part-time faculty meetings with a student, faculty and
students meeting on research projects, faculty meeting in a small group to discuss research,
etc. These rooms should be sound-proof with close proximity to the Atrium, should be
equipped with whiteboard, tables and seating for 6-8, laptop connectivity and plasma screen
technology along with the appropriate multi-media equipment including video recording
capability.
6. Student Leadership Lab – is a dedicated space for student club/ student group use. This space
should be visible from the entrance to the building and reflect the vibrant activity of the six
clubs currently run by and for PCSB students. This space should allow for advertising about the
clubs and encourage and excite students about getting involved in the various student
organizations.
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7. Flexible Work Space (4 – 5) – shared space to be used by MBA students and part-time PCSB
faculty members. Each station will be equipped with a desk and a networked computer. This
shared space is needed for MBA students who arrive to campus before class and have no
dedicated space to prepare for class, check email, etc. This space can also function as “office
space” for the 20 PCSB special lecturers who are on campus part time. It is recommended that
the workstations operate on a reservation system.
8. Conference Rooms (2) – given that these rooms will be used for departmental meetings,
committee meetings, recruited candidate presentations, meetings with community business
professionals, and potentially “brownbag” research workshops, these rooms should be
“business professional” and equipped with technology (projection, screen, whiteboard,
computer) with a seating capacity of 16.
9. Separate office space for 50 full-time faculty from the Departments of Accountancy, Finance,
Management and Marketing (currently 45 full-time faculty plus additional room for growth).
10. Administrative Office Suite including Dean’s Office, Associate Dean’s Office, Assistant Dean’s
Office, space for Administrative Assistants for Undergraduate Program, Graduate MBA Program,
space for a copy machine, storage, supplies, files, etc. A top concern is creating a space where
administrative personnel can privately meet with students when students have academic
concerns that need to be confidentially addressed. This space can also function as student
make-up exam space where staff are able to easily monitor the student. It is essential to have a
setup that is conducive to working with 3-5 graduate assistants, having sufficient storage space
and ensuring good traffic flow between the various administrative offices.
11. Communal faculty/staff lounge/ - this room should support faculty and staff who teach and
work in the facility. The space should encourage informal discussion and collaboration and be
equipped with – at a minimum - coffee service and a kitchen.
12. Mailroom/Copier – separate centralized space for mailboxes and for faculty to self-copy and
fax.
13. 24/7 Student Access – Students should have 24/7 access to at least part of the facilities; the
Atrium, breakout rooms and at least one computer data center and food(vending machine).
14. Handicap/Special Needs Suitable – Above and beyond adhering to minimum standards required
by law, the PCSB would ask that design elements/features and layout consider the various needs
and limitations of our entire student body as well as the needs of those visiting campus. Access
to the building with convenient parking and ease of navigation within the building are two
important concerns the PCSB would like considered.
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