Facilities at S.D. Schools Vary Widely

Although the business of San Diego’s business schools is education, the sites where that education is delivered couldn’t be more different.

If physical plant is the bottom line, James Burns is sitting in the catbird seat.

When Olin Hall opened in 1984, the University of San Diego touted the computer-equipped, Spanish-design facility as the nation’s most modern business school building.

Burns, who has completed his 11th year at the helm of USD’s undergraduate and graduate business programs, works out of an immaculate office that boasts a breath-taking balcony view from the northern rim of Mission Gorge.

A few miles to the east, Allan Bailey’s office is in sharp contrast. Office space is in short supply in San Diego State University’s Business Administration and Mathematics Building, and some of the offices have been subdivided to the size of a large storage closet.

That space shortage should end in a few years when the California State University system provides funds for a new building, reported Bailey, who is beginning his 10th year in the dean’s office.

When Reed M. Powell, United States International University’s new dean, arrives on campus in July, he’ll work out of a business school that is in a decidely non-business setting. USIU’s rural campus near Scripps Ranch underscores the unorthodox nature of USIU’s student body, faculty and business program.