Can you see into the future?

Think back to February of 2009. How long ago does that seem to you? In February of 2009, the iPad had not yet been introduced. Back in 2009 author Stephen R. Covey was this amazing world-renowned author that we probably could have never afforded to bring to the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. Now he’s our best-known professor. Does 2009 seem like a long time ago? I know it doesn’t to me.

February of 2009 was 27 months ago. Do you know what happens 27 months from now? It will be August of 2014. By the fall of 2014, you should be able to stand on any of the first three floors of the George S. Eccles Business Building and look down the hallway right into our brand-new building. In fact, you might even have a class there.

Right now, our timeline has us starting the new business building in the summer of 2012 and completing it in the summer of 2014. Now, if you know anything about timelines when it comes to massive projects, then you understand that they can change as fast as positions during an election cycle; but we have hope that this change will come about on schedule.

By this July we will have selected an architectural firm that will help us decide what should be going into this building and what it should look like. There are a million things to figure out if we are to do this right. We have some great help. There are three major players at the table making this happen:

The Division of Facilities, Construction and Management is the state of Utah entity that will help guide us through the process. They have done this many times before, and they know how to keep things legal, fair and efficient.

Then, there is the University Facilities people who are the ones who will end up maintaining our new building and making sure it plugs in properly to everything else on campus. Their help is absolutely essential.

And then there is the Huntsman School of Business leader types. That’s me and some really smart people, like Jim Elwood and Dave Patel, who will all play a key role in figuring out what pieces need to be part of this picture. Ever heard of Dean Douglas D. Anderson? You can be sure he’ll get in the mix too. Remember, he’s the guy who could see this building going up back when most wouldn’t even allow it on their radar.

How many student study rooms should we have? How many classrooms? How many offices will we need? Do we need another auditorium? If we create a center for something, will it need to be centered in the building? Should there be a little café? Or a business library? If we have a café that sells pizza, how far away from Steve Eaton’s office will it need to be located? All that needs to be decided.

It could make your head swim but I’m not worried. I’ve been involved in the construction of a number of buildings before and I have great confidence in the team we have that will be making the key decisions. They know stuff.

Just think, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to boast, “I can remember the day the new building opened…”

Ken Snyder