Prime Real Estate in Huntsman Hall Will be Put to Good Use

By Ken Snyder

Today I wanted to give you an update on our plans for event space in Huntsman Hall. As I’ve written before, we will have a room in Huntsman Hall on the top floor that will have a glorious view of the south end of Cache Valley. The room will be used for club activities, training seminars, networking events, faculty meetings and will make a great spot to host VIP visitors and speakers.

Huntsman Halls special events room in classroom mode.

We know this space will be in demand because the only place we have now for such events is the O.C. Tanner Lounge on the ninth floor of the George S. Eccles Business Building. It seems like that room is always booked during the school year. It can hold about 30 people if we are hosting a luncheon, about 50 if it is set up like a classroom, and 70 if it is opened up for a networking event.

The new event space, which will be used in addition to our ninth floor room, will be about as wide as the O.C. Tanner Lounge but twice as long. It will hold twice as many people.

Originally we considered putting in a movable wall so we could divide the room but opted not to go that route to save money. I have attached a rendering from our architects of what this room will look like in classroom mode. We can also set this up for banquets or for networking events. In any set-up, we can use the built-in serving shelves on the side of the room for refreshments. There is a room just off this event space that has a kitchen serving area that caterers can use.

When we were meeting with different groups to get their input on what should go into Huntsman Hall, they all recognized a need for this kind of special event space. This was the highest priority from students, faculty, and staff! We consider the spot where this room is in the building prime to be real estate, and we think using it for these kind of memorable, high-profile functions will pay off for students, faculty, and alumni alike.