Ustin Hall – Ribbon Cutting: Tuesday, April 22

On Tuesday, April 22, Monroe College President Stephen J. Jerome, along with elected officials and community leaders, will cut the ribbon on Ustin Hall (YOU-sten), a spectacular 32,000 square-foot building that is the new Bronx campus home to the King Graduate School of Business and the Monroe School of Business.

The School of Business will be operating a Center for Entreprenurial Excellence from Ustin Hall and the new building will also house the award-winning Monroe College SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team. Also, the highly-successful King Graduate School of Business that awarded its first Master’s degrees in the spring of 2007, will be introducing finance and health care concentrations in the fall.

Located at 2375 Jerome Avenue on the corner of 184th Street, Ustin Hall is the sixth building on the college’s Bronx campus. It has been named in honor of Joan Ustin, the Chair of the college's Board of Trustees, who has been affiliated with Monroe for more than 20 years. Ms. Ustin’s career typifies much of what Monroe represents. After helping implement a major community-based urban revitalization program, Ms. Ustin established her own consulting firm that directed the training and development function for major New York banks.

Ustin Hall contains twenty classrooms, student and faculty lounges, a café, offices, and space for group meetings and lectures with seating for approximately 100 people. One of the most striking highlights of the interior is a sweeping staircase across the lobby from the main entrance. Finishes and furnishings bring a subtle elegance to the facility that promotes academic activity. The exterior resembles the campuses' other structures with a brick façade highlighted by stone.

One important aspect of Ustin Hall is the solar technology on its rooftop. The 50-KW solar panel system will provide an estimated 57,000 KW hours of electricity. Also, the system’s racking installation device will also help conserve energy. Made of R-10 insulation material, it will reduce the building’s heating and cooling needs. From a global perspective, this means a reduction of about 100,000 lbs of CO2 not being emitted into the environment. That translates into about five acres of trees being planted annually, not driving 75,000 miles on a car, or recycling 950,000 soda cans every year.

Ustin Hall was designed by architect Michael Just, AIA and interior finishes were developed by the architect and members of the college administration.