Taking Care of Business

Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management
Rice University

In a building that combines beauty, function, and technology, the core values of teaching, learning, and collaboration are central to the thoughtful design of each venue.

It’s a typical sunny day in Houston, and in the Woodson Courtyard of the new Jones School building, business students can be seen working on laptops while seated on benches surrounding the cascading water fountain. Whether completing course-related projects, checking e-mail, or planning the tasks of the day ahead, the wireless network available in the new building allows students to be continuously connected to network servers and the Web. Inside the Student Commons accessible from the courtyard, members of a student club huddle around a small conference table—laptops open—organizing upcoming events. Gathering in the hallway, students newly released from class discuss the day’s topic with their professor. Walking toward the wide, tile staircase leading up to the Business Information Center, faculty offices, and classrooms on the second and third floors, a group discusses and plans its next team meeting.

In a building that combines beauty, function, and technology, the core values of teaching, learning, and collaboration are central to the thoughtful design of each venue. With more than 98,000 square feet of usable space, the building features advanced, scalable technology to facilitate the innovative teaching style of the school’s faculty and large open spaces in which both faculty and students can mingle and learn from each other outside of the classroom. From hallmark facilities such as the El Paso Corporation Finance Center and the Behavioral Studies Lab to wired and wireless tiered and cluster classrooms that offer a wide, integrated set of tools for presenting course materials, state-of-the-art facilities in the new business school are second to none in delivering the breadth and depth of management education to future business leaders.

“ As we went through the programming and then design process for the Jones Graduate School’s new building, we examined, without constraints, all of our assumed needs for the next 10 to 25 years,” says Gilbert R. Whitaker, Jr., the H. Joe Nelson III Professor of Business Economics and dean of the Jones School, whose leadership and foresight have propelled the school to a stellar reputation and national recognition.

Best known for creating buildings that emphasize continuity of tradition and preserve the spirit of the places in which they are located, award-winning architect and dean of the Yale School of Architecture Robert A. M. Stern was chosen to design the new building. “At Rice, each building not only must be individually excellent, it must fit in with all the others. In an era of screaming me-tooism, Rice demands artistic unity,” says Stern. “In designing the Jones School, we take our place in the orchestra that is the Rice campus, but we also step forward for an identifying solo turn as our building takes its place on Jamail Plaza across from the Baker Institute. The building for the Jones Graduate School carries forward the Rice tradition, interpreting and reinterpreting it to meet new and future needs. Comprising three distinct components that define an intimately scaled courtyard, the building cloaks myriad functions, including a library, dining hall, and auditorium, as well as classrooms and faculty offices.”

Emphasis placed on providing facilities for networking and collaboration is evident in the new classrooms. Built to enhance case-study and interactive instruction, the six seminar rooms, two cluster classrooms, and six tiered classrooms boast the latest technologies and improved equipment, allowing instructors flexible modes of displaying a wide array of course materials, such as webpages, video, and multimedia presentations.

The two cluster “capture classrooms” are equipped with technologies that will record the entire classroom experience—student–teacher discussions, presentations, demonstrations, videos, slides, and other materials used—with minimal disruption. Conferencing technologies also are installed in the classroom, allowing broadcast videoconferencing that equates to enhanced opportunities for collaboration with others outside the Jones School. The two-level 450-seat Shell Oil Company Foundation Auditorium hosts prominent business leaders featured in the Dean’s Lecture Series, but also doubles as a tiered classroom.

“ The tools available in the classroom allow us to help students take advantage of the current and latest technology used in industry,” says director of M.B.A. communications Deborah Barrett, who teaches effective communications and presentation skills.

While significant strides have been and continue to be made on the technology front, the classrooms also are designed to facilitate faculty–student interaction. The large teaching stage in each classroom gives faculty ample room to walk around and connect with their students. Breakout rooms adjacent to tiered classrooms allow faculty to efficiently integrate team coursework in their classes.

“ The classrooms are suitable for case- and team-learning, enabling students to effectively work in groups and teams,” says Wil Uecker, the Harmon Whittington Professor of Management and associate dean for Rice University Executive Education. Facilities in the new building allow students in the M.B.A. for Executives Program—the largest executive M.B.A. program in the Southwest—to conduct classes for the first- and second-year students on the same weekend.

“ Our students are able to network not only with the students in their section and year but also with the rest of the class. Networking opportunities such as these enrich the learning experience by providing students the chance to share information about coursework, about their particular industry, about their jobs,” Uecker says.

Outside the classrooms, large, open spaces are made available for students to conduct study meetings and work on assignments in between classes, including 24 breakout rooms and 12 group study rooms. “It’s easy to find a place to study, either as a group or alone,” says first-year student Tovi Abello. “You can tell that a lot of thought went into the planning of the building and its facilities—the needs of M.B.A. students were clearly important in its design.”