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• IU Kelley School of Business to dedicate Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center

IU Kelley School of Business to dedicate Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center

• Sept. 17, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Around Indiana University's Kelley School of Business this fall, the frequently expressed mantra has been "Go From Moment to Momentum." Nowhere is that phrase more tangible than at Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center, which will be dedicated Friday.

Classes began last month in new areas of Hodge Hall, an expansion of the 48-year-old 140,000-square-foot building that housed the entire school for decades. The $60 million project continues with the renovation of older areas.

The building is named for James Hodge, a native of Marion, Ind., a 1974 graduate of the Kelley School and president of Permal Asset Management. Hodge's $15 million gift was a centerpiece of the support this project received from alumni and corporate partners.

Hodge Hall will be dedicated at 3 p.m. in the Subhedar Forum, on the first floor of the adjacent William J. Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center, 1275 E. 10th St.

IU President Michael A. McRobbie will preside over the event. Other participants will include Hodge, IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel, Kelley School Dean Idalene "Idie" Kesner, Kelley Undergraduate Program Chair Ramesh Venkataraman and IU Foundation President and CEO Dan Smith, who also played a crucial role in the project as Kesner's predecessor as Kelley dean.

In addition to Hodge's gift, a $33 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. and another $12 million in private gifts from other alumni and strategic partners have supported the building project. The total cost of the expansion and renovation of Hodge Hall will be met without using tax revenue or tuition dollars.

"Momentum is something we’ve been talking about a lot lately at the Kelley School," Kesner said. "We strive to teach our students how to recognize and cultivate those moments in their lives that could lead to opportunity -- how to create momentum. Our new Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center is certainly a very visible and impressive example."

This fall, the Kelley School is celebrating the largest freshman class in its history. It has moved up to No. 8 in two of the major business school rankings this year, issued by Bloomberg Businessweek and U.S. News and World Report. Hiring companies have ranked Kelley’s graduates No. 1 in the country in Bloomberg Businessweek rankings the past two years.

McRobbie noted that with the support from Lilly Endowment, Hodge and many others, the Kelley School remains one of the world's leaders in business education as well as a key contributor to Indiana's economic vitality through its graduates and research programs.
 
“This remarkable facility, made possible through individuals who share the university’s vision of excellence in teaching and research, will enable the Kelley School to maintain its strong international standing, while dramatically transforming the important role Indiana University plays in undergraduate business education,” McRobbie said. “Through its enhanced classroom and collaborative spaces and state-of-the-art technologies, Hodge Hall will enable our students to more easily connect with top business leaders and companies around the state, nation and world, preparing them for their own successful careers in the global marketplace.”

Planning for the project began in 2005, and construction started two years ago with the building's expansion, followed by renovation of the existing building. The final phases of the project will be completed next year.

The new structure now is nearly 90,000 square feet larger and features 20 additional classrooms as well as new meeting rooms, student collaboration space, a student commons and a 2,000-square-foot room for large gatherings.

A focus of the building project was to create facilities that enable a technology-mediated experience, allowing Kelley students to interact with companies from across the state and around the world on actual business projects.

As a result of the building expansion, the Indiana Business Research Center, which has provided a wide range of economic and demographic information services to the state since 1925, will move back on campus.

Other building features include the 3M Sales and Communications Lab; a behavioral research lab for researchers; a new Kelley student-managed apparel store; and the Dan and Maureen Aron Investment Center, which is a stock trading room with state-of-the-art informational resources.

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• IU Kelley School of Business