sealPurdue News
____

April 16, 2002

Krannert's new building gets big new 'byte' of data storage

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's Krannert School of Management is scaling up its technological infrastructure to prepare for the eventual opening of Rawls Hall, the school's new facility.

Download Photo Here
Photo caption below

The latest addition is more than a terabyte of data storage, donated by Network Appliance of Sunnyvale, Calif., a leading provider of enterprise network storage solutions. The storage hardware is valued at $275,000.

"A terabyte provides storage sufficient to store 1 million text copies of big novels or 1,000 movies recorded at TV quality," says G. Logan Jordan, the Krannert School assistant dean of administration. "That's a huge amount of capacity that our faculty will use for both research and the video capture and streaming that will be available in all the Rawls classrooms.

"In business education you must stay at the leading edge in the information technology game to provide business students with the high-tech tools that emulate the environment they will graduate into."

Rounding out the Network Appliance gift is the Cisco Systems' $60,000 gigabit switch that increases network access speed to the Network Appliance file storage system.

Download Photo Here
Photo caption below

"These gifts give the Krannert School great leverage in achieving our educational goals," Jordan says. "The enhanced capability even allows us to share expertise and speakers with our alumni and friends in Indiana."

Many of the school's executive forum speakers are already available online.

Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School dean and Leeds Professor of Management, says the information-rich classrooms the Krannert School and other business schools are building will blaze the trail for higher education in the next decade.

"Our professors are already gearing up and presenting our students with a more interactive and exciting learning environment by using videoconferencing and Internet resources in creative ways," he says. "To do this requires a robust technological infrastructure and new facilities to house it."

Andrew Cigolle, a 1994 Purdue graduate who is finance manager, engineering, at Network Appliance, said: "Network Appliance is committed to bringing technology into the classroom in order to elevate higher education. We are proud of this contribution and will continue to support the Krannert School of Management as it continues building the classrooms of the future."

Rawls Hall, a $35 million, 128,000 square-foot, four-story building, will be ready for occupancy in the fall 2003 semester. The facility will be located on Grant Street across from the Krannert Building.

Jerry S. Rawls, a Krannert School alumnus and Silicon Valley executive, gave $10 million to build the new facility.

Jerry S. Rawls

Rawls, president, chief executive officer and director of Finisar Corp., an optical networking company located in Sunnyvale, Calif., earned a master's degree in industrial administration in 1968 from the Krannert School.

Rawls Hall received an architectural design award from Architectural Portfolio. The American School & University publication highlights excellence in the design of educational facilities.

The architects for Rawls Hall are Scholer Corp. Architect/Engineers of Lafayette, Ind., and Goody, Clancy & Associates of Boston. The builder is Wilhelm Construction of Indianapolis.

"Rawls Hall will provide the school with an environment that is technologically progressive, yet flexible and adaptable," Jordan says.

"All classrooms and study areas will be wired for the Internet. The commons area will have walk-up Web kiosks and wireless access to university libraries and the Internet. All classrooms will also be videoconference-enabled and linked to a high-end media production center.

"In the final analysis, Rawls Hall is designed to provide an excellent residential educational environment within which our students can study and learn.

"Second, and perhaps more importantly, it will provide a learning 'portal' through which Krannert can bring experiences and experts from around the world to resident students, and Krannert, in turn, can reach out to students and managers across Indiana or halfway around the world."

The Krannert School of Management undergraduate and graduate programs are consistently ranked among the top 30 business schools in polls and surveys. Last year, The Wall Street Journal ranked the Krannert MBA sixth nationally.

There are currently 2,200 undergraduate management majors at the Krannert School. Residential MBA candidates number 360. The Krannert School of Management also offers the doctorate and a number of executive education programs.

Writer: J. Michael Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu

Sources: G. Logan Jordan, (765) 494-4370, jordan@mgmt.purdue.edu

Richard A. Cosier, (765) 494-4366, rcosier@mgmt.purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

The atrium area of Jerry S. Rawls Hall was cited by a publication highlighting excellence in the design of educational facilities. Architectural Portfolio stated the building's "center space will be inspiring and at the heart of the school."

A publication-quality photograph is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/kran.interior.jpeg.

 

Construction of the technologically state-of-the-art Jerry S. Rawls Hall is a $35 million, 128,000 square-foot building that will be ready for occupancy in the fall 2003 semester.

A publication-quality photograph is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/kran.render.jpeg.


* To the Purdue News and Photos Page