The Hammack School of Business (HSB) will move to Goodman Hall before the beginning of the Fall Semester in August to make the program with a large number of majors more accessible to students, faculty and community partners.
Hearst Hall will also receive modest updates to improve accessibility and better serve commuter students.
“We are committed to increasing accessibility for faculty and students,” said Oglethorpe President Kathryn McClymond. “The dean and faculty of the Hammack School of Business have grown the program significantly since it was started in 2019, and it now serves the second largest number of majors and the MBA, which was relaunched in 2023.”
Rather than leave a building on the academic quad empty, the university will take full advantage of the space, which is much easier for faculty and students to access compared to HSB’s current home on the third floor of Lupton Hall. Moving to a single-story building allows faculty and students to more easily access the teaching and learning spaces, since the third-floor offices in Lupton were not accessible by elevator.
“It’s long been the vision for the Hammack School to have a dedicated space on campus, and we are looking forward to providing enhanced programs from our new home,” said HSB Dean Stephen Craft. “As we continue to boldly steward the resources Mr. Hammack has entrusted to us, we know that having accessible offices and gathering places will leverage our faculty’s expertise to further engage students, alumni, and the business community.”
The Hammack School of Business opened in 2019 after a transformational gift commitment from alumnus Bill Hammack ’73 and his wife, Diane. Their gift led to the establishment of the school of business, which was named in his honor. Hammack retired as president and chief executive officer of C. W. Matthews Contracting Company, Inc., Georgia’s largest heavy highway construction company—a career he began while still an Oglethorpe business student.
With a minimum of capital investment, Goodman Hall will be converted to offices and collaboration spaces providing greater accessibility to faculty, staff, students and campus visitors. Goodman Hall has served as offices and a residence hall in the past. It was offline last year, and it will be updated to become office space again.
In addition, the new Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (EIC) will have dedicated space in Goodman Hall. This will allow the EIC’s founding director, Dr. Leroy Carson Jr., to further develop the center into a local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“The move to Goodman Hall represents another step forward to achieving the vision for the Center of a cutting-edge innovation center to empower both our students and the local startup community,” Carson said.
Other facilities improvements include the garden level of Hearst Hall, which is also an accessible space. It will house a conference room available for general campus use with a priority for events with external attendees.
The space on the garden level will also feature a commuter lounge with easy access from the Hearst parking lot to encourage use by commuter students. A “drop down” space for faculty to meet with students in an easily accessible location as well as a breakroom available to everyone will also be added.
