Providence College Breaks Ground for New School of Business Building
Providence, R.I. – Providence College today broke ground for construction of the Arthur & Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies, which will house the Providence College School of Business (PCSB) program. Scheduled to open in spring 2017, it will serve as the learning environment for PCSB students and teachers, and a place of work for faculty and staff.
College officials – including College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., ’80, PC Board Chairman John F. Killian ’77, and PCSB Dean Sylvia Maxfield – joined the College’s Board of Trustees, state and city officials, and members of the PC community in ceremonial activities to bless and mark the beginning of construction of the building.
The 64,000 square-foot facility will include a glass atrium entrance, classrooms, conference rooms, computer labs, collaboration rooms, interview suites, and a student café. A “town square” for community-wide gatherings is also part of the plan. The building is being designed by SMMA | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates of Cambridge, Mass. The construction manager is Dimeo Corporation of Providence.
The Arthur & Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies is being named in recognition of prominent PC alumnus Arthur Ryan ‘63 and his wife, Patricia, whose leadership gift helped make the facility possible. Mr. Ryan served as president of Chase Manhattan Bank and as chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, Inc., one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world, before retiring in 2008.
“This is a special day for Providence College,” said Father Shanley. “We are extremely grateful to Art and Patricia for their generous gift, and we look forward to the building’s completion in time for the College’s Centennial celebration in 2017.”
“The design of the Arthur & Patricia Ryan Center for Business Studies and its location on campus symbolize the integration of business studies with the liberal arts at Providence College and our focus on active and engaged learning,” said PCSB Dean Maxfield.
PCSB offers undergraduate programs in accountancy, finance, management, marketing and a graduate MBA program. The values-driven curriculum is integrated uniquely with the liberal arts and grounded in the Catholic and Dominican traditions. Students not only learn subject matter, but develop different ways of thinking and exploring new questions and ideas. For employers, that means PCSB graduates are ideally suited to today’s rapidly changing business environment.
In July 2012, the PCSB program joined the elite rank of business schools in the nation with its accreditation by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Only about 30% of collegiate schools of business in the United States have achieved AACSB status.
In April 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek released its annual rankings of US business schools. PCSB came in 75th among the nation’s best undergraduate business programs, and was the biggest gainer among all schools, jumping 34 spots, due to an improved employer survey score.
