UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management Celebrates Opening of Business Innovation Hub

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AMHERST, Mass. — UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management officially opened The Business Innovation Hub at the heart of the university’s campus, adding 70,000 square feet of hyper-collaborative study and social space to the top rated business school.

Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and Executive Architect Goody Clancy, the $62 million project features classrooms designed to accommodate distance learning and connections with business leaders, labs and student-facing spaces — including an expanded career center, advising spaces and learning commons — as well as the addition of faculty offices to the school’s extensive facilities. See related video to learn more about the facility.

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting today, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said that The Business Innovation Hub is representative of the university’s trajectory to become a Top 20 national public research university.

“We are evolving, finding new ways to fulfill our mission of learning, discovery and engagement throughout the Commonwealth and beyond,” Subbaswamy said. “The Business Innovation Hub reflects our growing prominence as the flagship campus of the Commonwealth. In recent years, we have demonstrated the critical role we play in the Massachusetts innovation economy, both through our research enterprise and as the pipeline for educating the talent that employers need. The Business Innovation Hub further strengthens our importance to Boston by providing space and facilities to welcome guests for events and career exploration.”

The new, copper-clad annex accompanies the renovation of select spaces in both the original 1964 Isenberg building and the 2002 addition named for Harold Alfond. Together, the new and renovated facilities will combine to create a single unified facility. This flexible space, designed to accommodate future growth, will also house entrepreneur-in-residence programs and experiential learning spaces for students.

Bjarke Ingels, founding partner, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, observed, “The new Business Innovation Hub at the Isenberg School of Management is conceived as an extension of both the building and the campus mall. The linear structure is bent to form a full loop framing an internal courtyard for the life of the students. The façade is pulled away in a domino effect to create a generous invitation from the Haigis Mall to the Learning commons. The mall and the courtyard—inside and outside—form a forum for the students, the faculty and the profession to meet, mingle and mix society and academia.”

The new expansion and partial renovation of the Isenberg School nearly doubles the school’s current size to address Isenberg’s growth in the last decade, while introducing new facilities for faculty, staff and 5,000 students in undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. programs.

About the Isenberg School of Management
Founded in 1947, the Isenberg School of Management on the University of Massachusetts’ flagship Amherst campus, has 42,000 alumni in 86 countries. Isenberg offers its AACSB-accredited courses to 4,800 students on campus, online and in blended formats. The school’s 3,400 undergraduates major in seven business disciplines, including industry specialties such as hospitality & tourism management and sport management. Nearly 1,300 students are enrolled in the Isenberg MBA, and they can focus their studies in health care administration, entrepreneurship, finance and marketing.

For more information, visit www.Isenberg.umass.edu.