Rowan to debut $134.2M in new additions, facilities as rapid growth continues

The new $63.2 million home of Rowan University’s William G. Rohrer College of Business will officially open its doors Wednesday, marking the completion of yet another large-scale project that’s rapidly changing the face of the Glassboro university.

While students got a look at the 98,300 square-foot building Tuesday, the first day of classes for the spring semester, a Wednesday dedication ceremony will bring out school and elected officials to the new Business Hall.

The total $63.2 million cost of the project was partially covered by the state’s Building Our Future Bond Act, approved by voters via referendum four years ago. The act allows state officials to borrow a total of $750 million to fund upgrades and additions at New Jersey’s institutes of higher education.

The bond provided $46 million in funding. The borrowing program also covered $40.4 million of a $71 million expansion to the universities' expansion of its College of Engineering building – set to debut next week.

University officials said the new Business Hall facility will allow the Rohrer school to grow enrollment by 2,000 students, add degree programs, draw in business owners to work with students and bring in co-curricular programs.

“The timing couldn’t be better for this opening. We have more students applying to our business programs than ever before and there is great demand for our graduates,” Rowan University President Ali Houshmand said in a statement. “This building itself is magnificent, but I am more proud of the fact that we are now able to educate more students and better serve the business community.”

It’s the first academic building on the university’s campus to focus solely on business programs. It will house 14 classrooms, 70 faculty offices, 15 administrative offices, seven conference rooms and 10 speciality spaces like a trading room. A $10 million gift from the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation was given to the school in 2004 to build out its business programs, which now includes a MBA program, a Master of Science in finance, a dual MBA and Doctor of Osteopath degree, as well as eight undergraduate programs.

Just eight days after cutting the ribbon on the Business Hall, officials will break out the big scissors again to mark the opening of the 90,500 square-feet, three-story addition to its College of Engineering.

In decades past, Rowan was a sleepy, South Jersey school known mostly for its focus on teaching degrees. It’s changed dramatically over the past 10 years as Houshmand’s administration has brought in a wave of new leadership, led an effort to double the university's overall enrollment, created its own medical school, launched a major research and development center, and acquired a globally important fossil park in nearby Mantua Township that alumni Ric and Jean Edelman, who are helping to turn it into a world-class educational attraction.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal