Lucas Hall creates space

By Genna Tan

The newest building on campus, Lucas Hall, has been received with excitement as students started their classes, and faculty settled into new offices all over campus this week.

Donald L. Lucas Hall was dedicated Sept. 14, but didn't officially open until the first day of classes this week.

Alison Bartosik, a senior finance major, said she is impressed with the new building, which was built for the Leavey School of Business.

"I feel really lucky that I'll still get to have a few classes here before I graduate in December," said Bartosik. "I love the new food area and I like that we have our own space."

The Cadence Cyber Café as well as the 12 classrooms and study spaces are some of the special features of the $48 million building.

Faculty and staff appreciated the extra space allotted by the new business school.

The extra office space has allowed all six departments in the business school to be housed in the same building for the first time in its history.

As a result, more than 15 departments have moved at least some personnel to fill up the offices vacated by the business departments, which had been housed in five different locations.

Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Rafael Ulate said faculty and staff members tried to be very accommodating to the department moves.

"We tried to be as minimally disruptive to instructors, students and staff members by structuring the move so that people had enough time," said Ulate. "There was a lot of coordination in the schedules."

Ulate added that there were some minor coordination issues among the movers, technicians and electricians, but on the whole, the move went smoothly.

"I think that across the board, people have been positive, helpful and very eager to make their new spaces their own," she said.

Elizabeth Ford, senior assistant dean for business school graduate programs, expressed her positive experience with Lucas Hall.

"We love the new business school," said Ford.

According to Ulate, the shift of departments across campus has been one of the biggest moves in Santa Clara history.

Both the business school and the College of Arts and Sciences have been affected by the move, while all of the departments in the School of Engineering have remained in the same locations.

"Overall, I think there has been a lot of work done by a lot of people, and it really shows how well the university community can work together to accomplish something," Ulate said.

Originally, there were plans to hold summer graduate business school classes at Lucas Hall, but in order to avoid disruption, all classes were held in Kenna Hall.

Barbara Colyar, director of study abroad programs, is grateful for the department shifting.

"We're not quite moved in yet, but it's nice to be near to the center of campus because it makes us feel more like we're part of the university community," Colyar said. Her office had previously been in the trailers outside of O'Connor Hall, and is now located in Kenna Hall.

The move wasn't very inconvenient, Ford said.

"We just had to adapt to the minor scheduling issues," said Ford, who brought her laptop in for three days while waiting for her computer to arrive. "There were no major problems and it actually ran pretty smoothly."

Contact Genna Tan at (408) 554-4546 or gbtan@scu.edu.