Feature News

Kroehler renovation

Bloomberg Lab coming to campus

Feb 20, 2017

As the Science Center nears completion, a major building project will transform Kroehler into a new home for the School of Business and Entrepreneurship at North Central College.

Renovations of the former campus science building will go far beyond fresh carpeting and drywall. Its centerpiece will be a Bloomberg Lab, complete with stock ticker, walls of news monitors and 10 student workstations.

Bloomberg is the industry standard for finance and business, offering a wealth of information and analysis and more than 10,000 screens of data. The lab’s workstations will be equipped with dual monitors and Bloomberg’s unique keyboards. Students will have the opportunity to simulate trades and access thousands of proprietary reports.

Bloomberg professionals will be available to work with faculty looking for ways to integrate the lab into their courses. Diane Anstine, dean of the School of Business and Entrepreneurship and professor of economics, reports that every business student will complete at least one course in the lab. Students also can choose to become “Bloomberg certified” by completing a series of modules, covering economic theory, economic indicators, fixed income vehicles, options, equities and more. 

The renovated Kroehler building also will contain 14 reconfigured classroom/seminar spaces, each equipped with the latest wireless and smart board technology, as well as student lounges and gathering spaces, 43 faculty offices and conference rooms. 

After the renovations wrap up this August, all business faculty and classes will be housed under one roof for the first time in the history of the College. Anstine couldn’t be more excited. “Since we’ll all be together, not scattered across campus, it will be easier for students to ask for help, or just stop by our offices to chat,” she says. “Faculty will work together and trade ideas more easily. We’ll have a stronger sense of community and connection that will be great for everyone.” 

The renovations come on the heels of recent curricular changes in the newly created School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Accounting and finance joined to form a single department, and a new 12-course core gives accounting, finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, international business and human resource management majors exposure to all aspects of business. 

Anstine (photo below) reports that the changes have inspired faculty to think differently about the department and what it can offer students. “Maybe we’ll create an executives-in-residence program where local retirees coach students. Maybe we’ll hold investment competitions with other colleges,” she says. “We could see innovations that change our campus in great ways that we can’t anticipate right now.”