CoB Learning Complex ‘open for business’ Hartman Hall, newly renovated Showker Hall serve as cornerstones of college’s impressive new facility
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he photographs from a decade ago are vivid evidence of how the rapid growth of James Madison University’s College of Business was straining the capacity of the classrooms and offices in Showker Hall. Named for Zane Showker—entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and owner of Harrisonburg Fruit and Produce (now Sysco Food Services of Virginia)—the building was designed in 1991 to accommodate 2,400 JMU business students. Twenty years later, the student census in the College of Business was more than double that, and something had to be done. By the summer of 2020, the answer had arrived in the form of Hartman Hall, a new $66.5 million, 115,000-square-foot building that interconnects with Showker Hall. At that same time, Showker itself began to undergo a $19.9 million expansion and modernization. With the Nov. 5, 2021, grand re-opening, the two buildings now formally take their place as the cornerstones of the JMU College of Business Learning Complex. “We’ve had a high-quality College of Business for some time— including top-notch faculty and students—and now we have the facilities to match,” said JMU President Jonathan R. Alger in his remarks at the ceremony. “We are open “We are open for business, and we are for business, open to the world,” Alger declared. Many thanks go to the nearly 2,500 and we are open individuals and companies who made to the world.” gifts of financial support. Among — PRESIDENT ALGER them are the “CoB 2020 Visionaries,” each of whom had contributed at least $2,020 by the time Hartman Hall was ready to be occupied. At last count, total private giving for the Learning Complex project totaled some $19.7 million. The completed complex boasts more than 200,000 square feet of new or renovated space. Classrooms are modernized and include desktop cameras, 4K projection screens and confidence monitors. The eye of an arriving visitor is immediately drawn to the Gaglioti Capital Markets Laboratory. Originally installed in Showker in 2011, it has received a
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(Above): The Madison Singers, under the direction of Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy, provide a musical interlude during the ceremony from Hartman Hall’s second-floor mezzanine. (Left): CoB Dean Mike Busing welcomes attendees at the special event.
comprehensive makeover in the process of being moved to Hartman. Seating capacity has more than doubled, and the lab now includes an attached boardroom that can also function as a multi-use area. It features 40 computer stations, eight 55-inch flat-panel displays and a 96-inch smart board. Other highlights of the complex include the Major Innovation, Collaboration, Creativity and Entrepreneurship Lab; a professional sales suite; a spacious first-floor atrium; a fourth-floor oculus with 360-degree views of the surrounding campus; and state-of-the-art collaborative learning spaces and study rooms throughout. The complex “is a launching pad, sending students into internships, careers and a community of alumni,” said Mya Baptiste, a student speaker at the grand re-opening. Baptiste, a Centennial Scholar, member of the College of Business Student Advisory Council, JMU Honors scholar and president of JMU Women in Business and the Madison Venture Group, will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Then she is on to New York City to begin work as an analyst in Citi Financial’s Global Capital Markets group. Citing the spiral staircase at the east end of Hartman’s atrium as her personal favorite among the building’s many attention-grabbing archi-
CO B PH OTO G R A PH S BY C A R R I E C H A N G ( ’ 20) A N D H A N N A S E A R FOS S; G A RC I A BY T H E D OW N TOW N C R E AT I V E
