STAFF WRITER

Hughes Hall has been given an Award of Merit in Engineering News-Record’s Best New York Projects Competition for 2013.

A total of 67 projects were nominated for the competition, according to Engineering News-Record. The entries were further divided into sub-categories. A five-judge panel named 37 winners in each category and will announce a best overall winner at a breakfast on Nov. 6.

Projects that did not take top prize were given Awards of Merit.

Gabelli students said that the award would be beneficial for the school’s reputation.

“We’re a distinguished school now, and we’re really getting notice,” Steve Falzone, GSB ’15, said. “We’re becoming more of a force in the business world, and the more people that know us, the better chance for business grads to get better jobs than we’re getting.”

Falzone explained that the increased name recognition from the award would help increase the prestige of the Gabelli School.

“Fordham is becoming a bigger name, and the Gabelli School is definitely becoming a bigger name,” Falzone said. “And, you know, of course, bigger name, better reputation, and the more people that know it, the better. That’s how you find connections, actually.”

Other students agreed that the award would make Gabelli a more competitive school.

“It’s great that Fordham and the business school won the award,” William Slattery, GSB ’15, said. “I think it really shows the strength of the business school and how it is competing well against other top programs.”

Slattery further talked about the advantages he felt the award would provide to the business school, and which the business school has provided to the Fordham community.

“I think [that for] Fordham as a community to have the business school…really shows that we have great donors such as Mr. Gabelli, who was so generous to donate the building,” Slattery said, in reference to Mario Gabelli, the benefactor of Hughes Hall. “If you go back ten years in the past, I don’t think the business school was nearly what it is now. ”

Both Falzone and Slattery spoke about the advantages they feel Hughes Hall has provided for them as business students.

“The study space is really nice,” Falzone said. “There are computers available in so many different locations, if you need to use one. The news is there. Of course, it’s a very cozy atmosphere. The classrooms are amazingly integrated with new technology. Some teachers can record class and post them on GSBU or even Blackboard.”

“I think the meeting room’s great,” Slattery said. “We had to do an integrated project, and I was constantly meeting in Hughes Hall for the project in the various meeting rooms to do the project. Also, the classrooms are state-of-the-art, which really helps with the overall learning experience.”

Slattery also spoke about how resources in Hughes Hall help students stay up-to-date on world affairs.

“I like the student lounge on the first floor,” Slattery said. “They have televisions with the news there. They have two meeting rooms on that floor, and across the hall they have the ticker room.”

The renovations added to Hughes Hall are a major component of Fordham’s initiative to meeting New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent before 2017. Heating, cooling, insulating and lighting systems underwent a drastic improvement as a result of the renovations.

Categories: News

Tags: eddie mikus, News