Austin Hall: A New Home for Business


Building the Future

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"Oregon’s future hinges on entrepreneurial leaders who can compete globally. We’ll prepare them here."

— Ilene Kleinsorge
Sara Hart Kimbell Dean

The drive to build a new home for the College of Business was launched through the generosity of two families who are prominent Oregon business leaders. In recognition of Joan and Ken Austin’s $10 million commitment, the building will be named in their honor. The late Al Reser, his wife Pat Reser, and their family also made a $6 million commitment to the project.

Funded with $30 million in private gifts plus matching state bonds approved by the Oregon Legislature in 2011, Austin Hall will provide an epicenter for the college’s people and programs that will be inspiring, professional, and authentically OSU.

The 100,000-square-foot building will be nearly twice the size of the college’s historic Bexell Hall. Strategically located near Weatherford Hall—the home of the Austin Entrepreneurship Program—in the heart of the OSU campus, the new facility will be a springboard for the college’s growing undergraduate and graduate programs.

Support Austin Hall

Austin Hall will include:

  • State-of-the-art classrooms specifically designed for effective delivery of business courses.
  • Innovative “learning streets” designed to provide common areas and small meeting spaces for faculty and students to interact.
  • A prominent Career Success Center to help students obtain internships, interviews and jobs. Connected to the Student Success Center, this will be the only college-dedicated career center on campus.
  • Professional meeting rooms, event space and a behavioral research center which will be available to the business community.

The building will be designed to achieve Leader in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) SILVER certification.

 

Transforming Business

The Oregon State University College of Business is transforming itself for the future, and it is ascending rapidly.

Founded in 1908 as one of the nation’s first 12 schools of commerce, the College of Business has entered its second century as a leading professional school. The college now offers five bachelor degrees in business, more than any other college in the Oregon University System, and rapidly expanding graduate programs. Today, more than 5,000 students—nearly 25 percent of all OSU students—major, minor, or seek specialized coursework within the college and graduate with the talents and skills to devise solutions for the challenges of our day and the future.

The college’s progress has been fueled by an outpouring of support from alumni, friends, parents, and others through The Campaign for OSU. Launched in 2005 to raise $625 million, the campaign goal has been increased to $1 billion, recognizing the unprecedented generosity of OSU donors. More than $100 million of that total will directly benefit the College of Business through scholarships, faculty support, signature programs, and Austin Hall—a new home for business at OSU.

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