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New Diggs at Kellogg

If you Google any top business school today, you’re almost guaranteed to find a story that talks about the school’s new building. While this may not be the main factor MBA applicants use to decide on where to attend school, in today’s high-tech global business environment, the best applicants not only want a top tier education, they also want a state-of-the-art facility.

As a result, one of the things a lot of students have been talking about the past few months, is whether Kellogg is going to build a new facility? And if so when?

Well, the good news is that Kellogg has committed to following the trend and building a new facility over the next few years. And on November 12, 2010, Dean Sally Blount publically committed to this through a press release stating that Kellogg was “excited to finalize the site.”

As debates around the new building have persisted, one overarching theme is that it should be more modern and have more study space so more people can be productive on campus during the day. That’s especially true this year, where Kellogg’s class of 2012 is bigger than it has ever been (so space feels a lot more limited) and booking a study room can be an impossible task at peak hours during the week.

On the whole, people seem to be pretty excited about the prospects of the building and believe that it will be a great addition to campus. It is also a great way to attract new students and ensure we keep the best professors in the world.

In a past article, former Dean Chopra commented that “this will be an outstanding new home for Kellogg in a wonderful location on campus. The new facility will enable Kellogg to provide state-of-the-art teaching facilities, additional amenities for our students and office space for our faculty.” In the most recent press release, Dean Blount added that “the site offers breathtaking lakefront view and will be a destination for businesses and civic leaders from around the world.”

But the press release also noted that fundraising efforts are still incomplete, and that they will become easier once they select an architect and the plan for the site is officially finalized.

So one question still remains. Is orchestrating the construction of the new building easier said than done? Perhaps. Brokering a balance between fundraising and building, when there are limited funds, unfinished architectural plans, and diverse points of view is never easy.  To lead Kellogg down that path requires an administration that understands the value of the building and alumni who deeply believe in supporting this initiative, even if the timeline isn’t set in stone yet.

And while the building won’t be up in time for the current classes of students, we should also look forward to supporting Kellogg through the process. Because, in the end, building a new facility will ensure that Kellogg remains one of the premier business schools globally.

Kellogg, its new Dean, and the current class of students should welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of this change.

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This post above represents a recent article I wrote an article for Kellogg’s newspaper, the Merger. Click here for a press release that came out on 11/12 in regards to the new building.