GROWING WITH STYLE AND DISTINCTION

Baylor Business Review, Spring 2007 by Elmore, Barbara

The decades-old Hankamer School of Business, which has given wings to scores of successful entrepreneurs, is oustling - perhaps bursting - with new programs tucked into offices and squeezed into hallways and down stairwells. With fixed seating in its classrooms and little room for student meetings, the school is all filled up with no place to grow.

"THE BUILDING SUPPORTS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING, BUT I'M NOT SURE IT SUPPORTS WHAT WE NEED TO BE DOING," Dean Terry Maiiess says. "We need a facility that meets the current state of education, and where education is moving." That means classrooms that encourage interactive learning and the development of programs that both anticipate the needs of business and that are aligned with Baylor's Christian mission.

The main components of the business school are the three-story Hankamer building, erected in the 19605, and the five-story Cashion Academic Center, a I98os-era structure. They house classrooms as well as a 256-seat auditorium, the Southwest securities Financial Markets Center, the CNL Real Estate Learning Lab, a graduate center, an advanced technology lab, the KPMG Tax Library, and a large banquet room. Space carved out for new programs chews up existing classroom space, Maness says. Planners are looking at schematics now, trying to figure out the best way to build.

* HEALTHCARE *

One area which needs more space is the three-year-old healthcare program that is currently operated out of an office. "We saw the opportunities for students and looked at it from the perspective of what better brand can you have in health care than Baylor University?" says James Henderson, the academic director of the Healthcare Administration Program. "There seemed to be a real void in that area, given where students could go."

Many Baylor students who were interested in such a program went somewhere else to get graduate degrees, and did well in ranked programs, Henderson says. So three years ago the program began as part of the business school's MBA.

Those classes developed from health economics courses Henderson offered at the undergraduate level in the late 19805. "That began a process of creating an undergraduate degree program, a B. S. in economics, focused primarily 011 the large number of pre-med students on campus that major in biology and chemistry" he says. "We wanted to offer them an alternative which would show a varied interest and provide a technical undergraduate major, one that had soine practical application as far as understanding how to think."

The program needs an office suite, Henderson says. With everything in place, it would have space requirements for six faculty members, both teaching and research scholars, that would make Up the healthcare core. Eventually, the Healthcare Administration Program would become an integrated program in health care, health services, health economics and health policy, he says, and would include a Ph.D. in economics. "We need a showcase facility which would include classrooms, conference rooms and a computer/research lab where students are able to have access to computers and other research materials."

OTHER PROGRAM NEEDS INCLUDE:

* ACCOUNTING *

Charles Davis, department chair and the Walter Plumoff Professor of Accounting, sees a school of accounting that will include dedicated classrooms as well as meeting space and faculty offices. Classrooms would be remodeled to fit with today's technology, Davis says. "We need a technology teaching lab, a computer laboratory that we could use for teaching," he says. Right now, technology-based courses that faculty members demonstrate have no meeting or laboratory space. Students must seek space elsewhere on campus.

Meeting space is also hard to schedule, he says. "We have advisory board meetings, student orientation, simulations, and career day for our students, that require larger space than what the classroom provides." Earge meetings or luncheons that can accommodate 150 people must be scheduled six to eight months in advance in the only room with space for that many people on the fifth floor of Cashion.

Davis also wants space for faculty and support staff that is connected to classrooms. "That is conducive to doing what we need to do. Our current offices are too small. If you're meeting with a group of students, there's really no place to do that. There needs to be a little more faculty space that can be used to meet with students and other faculty members on collaborative projects. That's my dream."

The Accounting & Business Ea-W department is already recognized for its excellence, and Davis wants to see continued recognition. "Our graduate program was ranked for first time this year [ in Public Accounting Report's Top 25], and our undergraduate program for two years in a row. I want us to go up and stay up."

Hand-in-hand with that goal is growing the program to graduate more accounting students to accommodate all the firms that want them. "We have 30 firms that come to recruit accounting majors," Davis says. "In a good year, we have 150 graduates. Competition for those students is high. I'd like to have a lot more students that can go to work for those firms."