当完成, the renovation of 布洛赫 Heritage Hall will be more than new carpet and reconfigured classrooms.

这将不仅仅是令人瞠目结舌的技术, although the reimagined facility that has anchored the 布洛赫 School since its earliest days also will get that.

耗资1700万美元的翻修工程, 预计将在2022年秋季学期迎接学生, 真的是为了实现其同名学校坚定不移的卓越愿景吗. 三十多年来，亨利. 布洛赫, 谁在2019年去世, faithfully invested in the business school with his time and money because he believed that having a top business school in Kansas City was key to the city’s success.

布洛赫学校是亨利的骄傲和快乐,大卫·迈尔斯说, 马里昂和亨利·布洛赫家族基金会主席, 翻新工程的主要资助者. “在这么大的城市里, 我们有这么多的企业和企业家, he believed there had to be an outlet and a location for you to receive high quality business knowledge and also a place where professionals could network and connect.”

The 布洛赫 Foundation’s $8 million contribution to the 布洛赫 Heritage Hall renovation project was already well in the works before 布洛赫 died. Miles said 布洛赫 saw the potential of this renovation project to propel the 布洛赫 School to new heights.

“亨利对这个项目很兴奋，”迈尔斯说.

The Sunderland foundation joined the 布洛赫 Family Foundation as a lead donor for the Heritage Hall renovation project. 此外，还收到了来自威廉·T·盖茨基金会的六位数的礼物. Kemper Foundation, Mike Plunkett, Nathaniel Hagedorn, Jim Stowers and the Capitol Federal Foundation. 该项目还得到了十多位校友的慷慨支持, 社区成员和学校的朋友们, UMKC基金会的杰伊·威尔逊说.

肯特桑德兰, 桑德兰基金会主席和UMKC基金会主席, said their gift was motivated in large part by respect for Henry 布洛赫 and the 布洛赫 family.

But Sunderland noted the gift also was predicated on his shared belief in the project’s potential to improve the business school. 他说，这反过来又会帮助堪萨斯大学和堪萨斯城. “这就是我们希望密苏里大学堪萨斯分校成为的样子,桑德兰说, “一个人们可以去的地方，(然后)将他们的才能应用到堪萨斯城的企业中.”

布莱恩·克拉斯, 布洛赫学院院长, 布洛赫遗产厅的翻新与这一愿望之间的联系也同样清楚. The project will give the 布洛赫 School the infrastructure it needs to better support students, 提高学生留存率，招收更多学生以达到世界杯赌场盘口目标.

克拉斯说:“这实际上是一种从根本上改变学生体验的愿望。.

这个项目

布洛赫遗产大厅是历史悠久的希尔兹大厦的合并, 这是20世纪初为粮食大亨埃德温·W·威尔逊建造的庄园. 盾牌, and a sprawling addition the university completed in 1986 with a $1 million contribution from Henry 布洛赫. 建筑, 有大量的教室和办公室, served as the school’s primary home until 2013 when the business school expanded its footprint to include 布洛赫行政大厅 for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

While 布洛赫 Heritage Hall has continued to serve as an important piece of the 布洛赫 School’s infrastructure, 建筑并不总是跟上教育性质的变化. 除了需要更好的技术和不同的教室安排, the building’s largest deficit had become its lack of a central common entrance or student gathering area.

“如果一个家长走进前门，想和别人谈谈学校, 没有人可以说话. 没有地方可去，”迈尔斯说.

Similarly, students had to walk through a maze of hallways to find various student service offices. 没有什么是集中的或明确的.

The renovated 布洛赫 Heritage Hall will change all that by creating a main entrance off Cherry Street, 哪个会有一个新的学生服务中心. 所有这些以前很难找到的学生资源, 包括本科生指导, 就业中心, 招聘, 辅导, 还有学生社团, 会住在那里.

在PGAV建筑事务所的设计中, square footage for the hub will be created by filling in two floors of an atrium — the centerpiece of the 1986 addition. 就在中心下面的一楼, newly created floor space will be dedicated to an open common area where students can mingle and meet. 这个想法, 克洛斯说, is to help students connect with school resources and their classmates so they stay in school, 研究生, 然后走向成功的事业. 

“我们学到的是，学生需要一种联系感, 他们需要提示和推动,他说. “我们想要创造一种能量和感觉，这是伟大的事情正在发生的地方.”

灵活性需求

Another major goal of the renovation is to make the learning environment as flexible as students demand. This includes equipping classrooms with technology to make logging into class remotely effectively the same as attending in person.

作为" RooFlex "学习经验的一部分, video screens and cameras will be installed in the front and back of many classrooms so professors can see virtual students just as they see in-person students, 学生可以看到他们所有的同学, 无论是当面还是在网上. 一间教室将包括一面墙的显示器, so professors can simultaneously see every student gathered remotely as if they are seated before them.

COVID-19加剧了对虚拟学习的需求, 很多学生已经有了这种需求, 西德恩·沃德说, associate dean of the 布洛赫 School who serves as the school’s liaison on the renovation project. 她预计，一旦疫情消退，这一数字只会增加.

“我们的学生都是全职工作. 他们可能在旅行，”沃德说. “他们有时可能在教室里, 但也许有一天，他们会坐在芝加哥的酒店房间里.”

Other students are juggling children with work and school and having the option to take classes remotely — at least part of the time — may be the only way they can pursue a business degree. The renovated classrooms will give students the ability to have as much remote learning as they need, 同时提供一流的校园环境.

这些改进将使布洛赫商学院领先于全国许多商学院.

“一些令人印象深刻的学校正在进行这类投资, 但这并不常见,克拉斯说。.

最终, he hopes the changes in the learning environment the renovation will give the 布洛赫 School the ability to attract more students and meet its goal to double in size by 2029. 在过去的三年里, 入学人数增长了15%，其中包括大约2人,在校本科生和研究生约1000人.

联系学校

除了改进技术以实现更好的虚拟学习, 扩建后的布洛赫遗产大厅将重新设计教室空间, 包括额外的小房间，学生可以聚集在一起讨论项目, 以及一些额外的更大的教室空间, 哪些是学校里供不应求的. One of those larger classrooms will be added underground and include a corridor to physically link 布洛赫 Heritage Hall to its neighbor, 布洛赫行政大厅.

Boosters of the project promise that the two buildings will be linked in more ways than just a corridor, 然而. The Heritage Hall makeover will maintain design elements that respect the architectural style of the century-old 盾牌 Mansion. But the completed project will also infuse Heritage Hall with the 21st century sophistication that Executive Hall is known for.

When supporters and dignitaries gather to cut the ribbon and ceremonially open the new building on 7月 30, 2022, 亨利·布洛赫诞辰100周年, Klaas is confident that the completed project will achieve one of the 布洛赫 School’s ongoing aspirations. 新连接的现代化校园将是亨利·布洛赫引以为豪的东西.

“亨利是关于布洛赫学校支持堪萨斯城的需求，”克拉斯说. 他想让布洛赫学校帮助堪萨斯城繁荣、健康和强大. What this building is going to do is help us provide better educational opportunities to more students. 这反过来又会支持雇主, 通过在堪萨斯城建立人才库，使他们更加成功.”