An architectural firm in Missouri partnering with an Evansville firm and a Michigan firm was selected in May by the USI Board of Trustees to design the new building for the College of Business.

Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HOK) of St. Louis, Hafer Associates, PC, of Evansville, and The Campus Studio of Ann Arbor, Michigan, were recommended by the Trustees Construction Committee. Wilke Structural Engineering is a consulting firm on the project.

USI Vice President for Business Affairs Mark Rozewski said the committee looked nationally for firms to design the USI business building. HOK designed the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University, the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, and the University of Oklahoma’s engineering building, among others. USI’s new building will include space for engineering on the lower level.

The building is included in the capital improvement plan for 2007-09. Implementation is contingent on state funding allocations. The 2005 Indiana General Assembly appropriated $2 million for planning the building. The University will request $29.9 million for fee-replacement bonding authorization in the 2007 legislature. If funding and state approvals are given, construction could start as early as 2008.