The Walla Walla University School of Business is growing. Performance metrics routinely confirm the quality of the program, and employers applaud the skills of our student interns and graduates.
To ensure we continue to develop excellent business leaders, the university will invest $4 million to transform Bowers Hall into a modern, collaborative, efficient and flexible space for the School of Business.
Plans call for the addition of more than 3,000 square feet to the existing building, as well as classroom and office reorganization. The transformed facility will include an innovation classroom/laboratory, technologies that enhance digital learning, efficient group study spaces and multifunctional meeting spaces.
“The strength of our School of Business lies in the strong relationships our faculty build with their students, relationships that result in highly effective student learning,” says Bob Cushman, vice president for academic administration. “For example, in 2015 our School of Business graduating class scored in the 96th percentile out of 68,594 examinees from 563 U.S. colleges and universities. This project will improve those collaborative, mentoring relationships and increase learning opportunities among students and staff.”
As part of the transformation planning, a project committee reviewed everything from classroom capacity and future business curriculum to best practice teaching methods for tomorrow’s digital world. Jodi Wagner, vice president of university relations and advancement, expects that the transformation will be completed during the 2017–18 school year and will help the university attract more business students.
“Bowers Hall has durably served Walla Walla University in so many ways,” says Wagner. “Now, generous donors are ensuring that this tradition continues by transforming the space for the future. Their gifts are truly investments in tomorrow’s business leaders and in Walla Walla University.”
Among the most historic buildings on campus, initial construction on Bowers Hall was completed in 1924 and in 1955 named in honor of George Bowers, the college’s 13th president. It has been home to WWU science programs, the history and philosophy department, the archaeology laboratory, and the School of Theology. The School of Business moved into Bowers Hall in 2009.
The Bowers Hall project helps launch the WWU "Life. Changing." comprehensive campaign, which, in addition to the Bowers transformation, includes creating a Student Life and Ministry Center and growing the university’s endowment.
You can join fellow alumni in supporting the "Life. Changing." Bowers Hall project. Visit www.wallawalla.edu/give.
An artist rendition of the planned transformation of Bowers Hall.
From inside the proposed transformation of Bowers Hall.
