School of Business celebrates new building

UC Riverside celebrated the start of a new chapter for the School of Business with the dedication of its new four-story instructional and administrative building at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, Oct. 18.

The 63,400-square-foot building, which includes classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, and a cafe, was completed last month after a year-and-a-half of construction. Staff and faculty began moving into the building in early September with classes starting as the fall quarter began.

The new building realizes a vision that began a decade ago to meet the school’s growing enrollment demands with a larger, modern facility with more classroom and office space as well as amenities for students, said Yunzeng Wang, dean of the school.

“This state-of-the-art business building is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and growth,” he said. “It is designed to be more than just classrooms, it is a hub of collaboration, a breeding ground for ideas, and a launchpad for future leaders. It will help us build bridges between business leaders and faculty to deepen their connections and shared expertise.”

The new building is located next to Anderson Hall, where most of the school’s administration had been housed. The 1917-era building predates UCR, built as part of the Citrus Experiment Station.

Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox described how Anderson Hall was at that time surrounded by citrus trees and built on a hillside to provide a view of the then-nascent downtown Riverside. The new building also provides expansive views of the campus and downtown Riverside and, like the old agricultural building, will build bridges between the campus and the community, Wilcox said.

“This will be here 100 years from now,” he said. “As you walk through it, think about not just what the university will look like but what kinds of things may have happened in those 100 years and what kinds of things are yet to still happen in this world. It’s exciting for us here at UCR to have a chance to think about a future that long.”

Sabine Freij, assistant dean of graduate programs for the school, also noted the connections between the past and the future with the school now housed in both the oldest building on campus and, for now, the newest. The new building represents UCR’s commitment to empowering students and future business leaders, she said.

“Every corner of this space was designed to encourage creativity, critical thinking, and the sense of belonging within the community — a sense of belonging for students who are first-generation, from underrepresented groups, international students, and our Dreamers,” she said. “You belong here, and the School of Business is home for you as we celebrate this milestone today.”

The new building includes a 350-seat auditorium, two 80-seat classrooms, a computer and finance lab with a stock market ticker LED display, study spaces spread throughout the building, and a graduate student lounge.

Thomas Kramer, associate dean of undergraduate programs for the school, said the school now has enough space to offer freshman and sophomore classes in one location instead of spread around campus. The new home will foster a shared sense of identity among faculty, staff, and students, and elevate the school’s profile, he said.

“We are not just officially opening up a new building and expanding our physical footprint, we are opening up the possibilities to enrich educational experiences for our students, and we are opening up opportunities to create an academic community that will retain and attract researchers and teachers of the highest quality,” Kramer said.

Jacqueline Norman, campus architect, described the years of planning and months of construction work that went into creating the building, which consisted of 25,000 pounds of concrete, 2 million pounds of precisely placed reinforcing steel, and over 900 skilled construction workers who spent more than 283,000 hours at the site.

“Let this space serve as an inspiration and an education-ground for students who will become ethical leaders,” she said. “Let it be a hub for groundbreaking research that will benefit society. And let it be a symbol of the university’s unwavering commitment to making the world a better place.”

Sandy Reyes-Moran, a graduate student at the school, said students have already begun to enjoy the new space, from the welcome new coffee shop to the study areas where students can gather to exchange ideas.

“A heartfelt thank you to our school’s leadership for working tirelessly to make this new exciting space a reality,” she said. “It has been such a joy to witness the positive transformation in the essence of our campus.”