Students and staff alike are starting to adjust to the new Farmer School of Business (FSB) with only three days of classes under its belt. According to Alan Oak, assistant dean for external relations in the FSB, and Jenny Callison, director of communications in business administration in the FSB, things are running smoothly.
"It's really gone quite well, would be my sense and the sense of the folks in the dean's area," Oak said. "We asked a couple of students stay on duty yesterday morning and this morning to help students coming in, if they hadn't familiarized to move that along, and that seemed to work well."
After being divided between Laws and Upham Halls, it's refreshing for most faculty and students who have had a chance to have class, eat, and meet with advisers and student services under one roof.
Junior Danny Sauter, a business student, has enjoyed being able to access everything in the new Farmer School of Business.
"The greatest asset is that (it's) one school, all the classes are in one building under one roof," said Sauter.
Callison said she helped a student find her class earlier that morning.
"A student came up to me this morning as I was coming upstairs, she couldn't seem to make sense out of the floor plan, but once we got up to the second floor, she was at her classroom," Callison said.
While there are still finishing touches including patio furniture, and computer classrooms, Oak assures that Ted Pickerill, assistant dean for administration in the FSB, and the project manager are on top of it.
"Ted and the project manager focused 100 percent of their time, and they will be for an important part of this semester (to) make sure things get done step by step," Oak said.
Patio furniture will be available outside the food court, on the west side of the building, and possibly on the northeast terrace, according to Oak.
"If you wanted to go outside Laws, there was no place," Callison said. "We're making up for it here; it was a missed opportunity."
The hope was that the building would be open for instruction upon the arrival of students this fall. According to Oak, it was not only open for instruction, but it went "quite smoothly."
"I'm not aware that there are any major issues with classrooms," Oak said. "Obviously the lay of the land is different for faculty in terms of teaching and for students … all that has been unremarkable which is good."
Callison was more than impressed with the utilization of the building.
"I'm surprised that it was picture perfect," Callison said. "There were students using furniture in the commons, students looking like they were really working together on things, conferring over their laptops, (and) in reading rooms having found a quiet place."
According to Oak and Callison, the FSB is trying to emphasize the importance of not allowing food or drink, other than water, in the classrooms.
"It's clutter, it increases the cost of maintaining the space because of the additional space, creates more wear and tear particularly for carpet, it's a nuisance, other than that, its wonderful," said Oak.
Callison added that by raising the standards of no food or drink, it's more professional.
"(We're) trying to reflect a cultural change, raise your game, have people behave in ways that are more professional," Callison said.
State-of-the-art technology has been talked about extensively by Roger Jenkins, dean and professor at the FSB.
Aside from a mock trial room, trading room, visualization room, simulation lab and a classroom for graphic design, there are flat screens around the building that have requested messages and information for FSB related activities as well as university-wide announcements.
The use of these flat screen televisions helps to stay away from flyers that may "clutter" bulletin boards in the building, according to Oak.
Callison manages the announcements and messages on an urgent basis.
"I'm starting to get more messages to put up on the flat screen," Callison said. "(I check) the homepage, (find the) most urgent of the messages, and put (them) on the flat screen"
For requests for announcements on the flat screens in the FSB, email callisjh@muohio.edu.
Dividends, the food court in the FSB, has also had a good experience in the first couple days of student customers, according to Eric Yung, manager of Dividends and Erickson food courts, and Nancy Heidtman, director of student dining at Miami.
"Probably the most popular concept, I think thus far (is) the Panini Portfolio," Heidtman said.
Yung added that the Asian market has also done very well, and Trader's Greens, a customized salad bar, has sold between 60 and 70 salads per day.
Dividends has also utilized technology such as a U-Scan that you might see at a self checkout line at Kroger, according to Heidtman.
"We are really proud of the fact that as a small operation we were able to utilize technology," said Heidtman.
The staff had a lot of taste tests this summer, Heidtman said. They researched by visiting schools on the east coast such as University of Massachusetts and Harvard University.
"We tried to implement trends and brought them back here," Heidtman said. "(It's) clearly evident in the Asian market concept, the different dumplings and shumai, the sushi, and the bento box."
Yung said while doing work through the closed doors, the staff would hear comments from the students outside.
"You could hear 'Wow' and that was such a positive thing," said Yung. "It makes the students excited, makes them involved, affects the staff and they know what they're doing is exciting to the students."
Fiscal Grind, the mini coffee bar, has also had positive feedback, according to Yung.
"I think for the professors it's been a great thing in the morning, and students drink coffee all day long," said Yung.
Dividends is open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Monday through Friday.
Yung feels that the schedule fits, and added that Erickson dining hall is also very close, and there is a market there as well.
For juniors Cahill and Sauter, however, the food court was mildly disappointing.
"I wish there was at least coffee all day," said Sauter. "That's the big draw of King Café."
Cahill said because the FSB was trying to help lessen overbooked study spaces at King, it seems weird that Dividends would close at 2:30 p.m.
"It's equipped with study rooms, so it seems like they want us here, but there's no place to grab coffee," said Cahill. "It's just inconvenient, it's not bad."
