Something New: Kogod School of Business

This semester started off a little nicer for Kogod students since the new 20,000 square foot is open for business. Now, overcrowding and poor scheduling are a thing of the past. With a new façade as well, it could be claimed to be the prettiest building on campus (as well as the most expensive) - - and here, that’s saying a lot.
“The new facilities are really nice and it makes for a better classroom experience,” said Kogod student Ben Corson. Corson’s opinion of the new building seems to be the overall feeling for most of the students and professors.
“It is wonderful,” said accounting Professor Ajay Adhikari. “It really helps us out. Now we have a lot more space and class rooms.” The new expansion gave Kogod seven new classrooms, new Center for Career Development facilities, Kogod Computer Lab, a Financial Services and Information Technology Lab, a Behavioral Lab, three break-out rooms, and three new student lounge areas. Not everything has been opened to the students yet, like the Behavioral Lab. But on January 12th, the seven classrooms were ready to be used for the spring semester.
The school of Kogod is the first structure on the American University campus to be built entirely with philanthropic dollars. The whole building was paid for entirely by Robert and Arlene Kogod, and when the building officially opens in April, they will present a considerable gift. The bill for everything totaled up was $14 million dollars. That’s worth an estimated 318 students’ tuition at AU.
Professor Adhikari went on to explain that before the expansion it was very difficult to schedule any extra classes or sections, and if it was necessary to schedule an extra class it would have to be on a Saturday, adding more problems. There wasn’t enough room to properly hold as many students as there are, but now things are a lot better for everyone involved in the community.
And the new look should be a big help in drawing more students to the business program at AU. With a huge class of 2011, Kogod will be looking to take in as many undecided freshmen as they can get.
However, not everyone was overjoyed by the new construction. Slater Nelson, an International Relations Major and resident of Hughes Hall has not been a big fan of all the noise. “Sometimes the construction will wake me up really early in the morning, and it’s been going on for a while now.” Not a fan of being disturbed, Nelson has what she calls ‘the sleep schedule of an infant baby,’ so any commotion is a big problem.
Kogod boasts the claim of being the first business school in Washington, D.C. It was first started in 1955 as the School of Business Administration, and was originally held within the McKinely Building. The school is named after Robert Kogod, a chief real estate developer. In 1979, he made a large enough donation to change the name of the school to the Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod College of Business Administration.
It was 1999 when the school shifted buildings from McKinely to its current home, formerly known as the John Sherman Meyer Building. The named changed to Kogod School of Business at the same time, once its first big renovation was completed.
However, the new school is not without problems seeing as house the two of the main bathrooms are already out of commission.

Sources:
Ajay Adhikari
Phone – 202 885 1993
Email – aadhikari@american.edu
Ben Corson
Phone – 2069725244
Shantal Nelson
Phone – 3472297684
References:
www.kogod.american.edu