As students returned from winter break, they were met with the sights and sounds of construction at the Anderson School of Management — all part of the creation of the McKinnon Center for Management.
ASM professor Steven Yourstone said the new 61,000-square-foot facility will be almost entirely completed by March 2018, with equipment and furnishings that April and May, and staff/faculty move-in during June.
Yourstone began working on the project 10 years ago and currently oversees a large portion of the project now that the demolition work has begun.
The new facility will include: marketing and innovation labs, a lactation room, gender-neutral restrooms, new state-of-the-art classrooms, group study rooms and more, he said. It will also include features to make the building more environmentally friendly. However, the construction process has not entirely gone without a flaw.
Norman Colter, a senior lecturer within the ASM Department of Accounting, said teaching in his classroom has become a challenge due to the construction.
“Generally, classrooms on campus are quiet and the faculty can lecture and answer questions from students in a quiet and comfortable classroom setting,” Colter said. “Unfortunately, both my classrooms are right next to where the construction is taking place. The noise from the construction work can sometimes be deafening in one of my classrooms.
Colter said he has had to stop mid-lecture and wait for the noise level to subside before continuing or answering questions from students. However, students appear willing to acclimate to the distraction.
Hira Malik, a senior economics and psychology double major, is taking courses at ASM and said the loud noise can make hearing what is going on in class difficult.
“Some faculty have noted to their department chairs the high noise levels,” Yourstone said. “Today, I entered a classroom in session that is located 21 feet from a pneumatic ram that was breaking up concrete steps.”
Yourstone said he observed the class for 15 minutes, during which time the class and instructor told him the noise was “tolerable,” before offering to find a new meeting space for the class.
Yourstone also asked all of the department chairs to encourage faculty, staff and students to contact him, as he has been on site since December and continues to monitor the site and buildings each day.
“In heavy demolition there will be noise, vibrations and some diesel fumes,” Yourstone said. “My office is only 10 feet from the demolition site. I find the noise, vibration and fumes to be acceptable. That said, we are all different in our tolerances for environmental intrusions.”
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Despite the sometimes obtrusive noise, many feel the McKinnon Center for Management is necessary, and that the construction will be well worth it.
Although Malik is not sure if she will still be attending UNM when the construction is complete, she feels the building will be a nice addition when finished.
Colter, who has been teaching at the department for 17 years, said the new building is “desperately needed.”
Aside from the the Jackson Student Center, not much has been altered at ASM outside of new paint or carpet, he said. Colter added that classrooms are regularly maintained, but are visibly in need of touch-ups, and many are not functional for group work environments, which are often required for students.
Compared to other new or entirely renovated business schools, “the conditions of our current buildings are a clear indicator that ASM is behind the times,” Colter said.
“The new building will have newly designed classrooms and lecture halls that will bring ASM classrooms up to date, and allow faculty and students to work together much more efficiently,” he said. “ASM has often had difficulty finding classroom space and therefore it can be difficult to offer new classes and implement new programs. This new building will help solve this problem.”
Still, Colter does not feel UNM could have pursued the construction process any other way.
He said the planning process has occurred for many years, which included keeping the UNM community updated and holding various meetings that allowed a lot of space for anyone interested to speak up.
He confirmed Yourstone is often near the construction site, speaking with the construction foreman and preparing to send progress reports to the UNM community and ASM staff.
Colter said he hopes the UNM community will visit the management school when construction is finalized and feels ASM will continue to attract excellent students.
Despite the McKinnon Center benefiting ASM, the relationships between ASM staff, faculty and students will always be at “the heart of the Anderson Schools of Management,” Yourstone said.
“The McKinnon Center for Management will revolutionize how all users feel about the school,” he said. “There is a significant component of the new building, as I listed above, that will provide welcoming spaces in which to rest, to study, to socialize and to interact with others.”
Colter said he believes the new facilities at ASM will be a “tremendous plus” for both the UNM community and the state of New Mexico.
“Many of (our) students will graduate and return to their homes in New Mexico towns with an outstanding business education,” he said. “In addition, many of them will become solid business leaders and serve their communities very well.”
Elizabeth Sanchez is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.
