The impact of the Leo J. Meehan School of Business on our faculty and students.
Impact Overview
Since opening in 2019, the Leo J. Meehan School of Business has become an essential part of the Stonehill campus. With special events hosted in the Great Room, study spaces available throughout the building, classrooms dedicated to data analysis, Bloomberg Terminals, and collaboration rooms designed for students to work together, it has proved to be the epicenter for the future of Stonehill’s business program.
With Stonehill’s deep gratitude for your support in making the Meehan Business Building a reality on our campus, we are pleased to provide you with a report highlighting the already impressive impact this new building has had on the College.
Building Features
The Meehan School of Business continues to impact the Stonehill campus and culture:
It is open to all students of all majors for study space and dining.
It remains the epicenter of business advancement on campus due to its modern technology and resources.
It provides a social gathering space for campus special events, lectures, and presentations.
The Team-Based Learning Hall
Opened in August 2019, Meehan is a $35 million state-of-the-art business building with innovative classrooms. The Meehan building houses Accounting, Finance, International Business, Management, Marketing, Economics, Healthcare Administration, Data analytics, Sports Management, and the Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program. With 141 classes in Fall 2019 and 135 classes in Spring 2020, the building was consistently packed with students during the 2019-2020 Academic Year.
While our 2020-2021 Academic Year looked different due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic with remote and hybrid learning, we are excited to report that we have returned to in-person learning for our 2021-2022 Academic Year and are fully utilizing the innovated spaces within Meehan that allow students to work and learn together, which include:
Two large active classrooms, seven large traditional classrooms, and two smaller seminar classrooms
A Simulated Boardroom
A Collaboration Zone
A One-Button Studio
A team-based learning hall with 124 tiered seats
Several conference, reading, and group study rooms
Two computer labs
Gigi’s Café
42 Faculty offices
The Great Room – a large lobby to accommodate guest speakers and events
A Bloomberg Classroom and a Capital Markets Room that provide industry-leading technology and access to real-time financial data
All these aspects come together to create this inspiring and beautiful building, with a robust learning experience for Stonehill students.
Academic Highlights
Why Meehan?
Strong business programs attract students seeking rigorous academic challenges. Housed in the 63,450-square-foot Leo J. Meehan School of Business, these programs provide students access to technology that prepares them for real-world events while encouraging collaboration among faculty and students. Students gain a breadth of experience through research and internships supervised by highly qualified and supportive faculty. Maintaining its dedication to combining technical training with the liberal arts, the College graduates business majors who are not only superb professionals, but also well-rounded lifelong learners devoted to research and discovery.
Experiences
The Meehan School blends an undergraduate business education with a rigorous liberal arts program that emphasizes experiential learning, leadership opportunities, and creative thinking to sharpen more than a student's business instincts. Through an expansive portfolio of internships, externships, study abroad opportunities, and new opportunities for hands-on learning and scholarship, graduates of these programs are well-positioned to thrive in a rapidly changing and globally competitive economy. Externship experience takes Stonehill seniors to Silicon Valley to learn more about tech careers and network with alumni already thriving in the field.
Faculty
The Meehan School of Business will help us attract, recruit, and retain bright and innovative faculty who are at the forefront of their fields. Among our newest accounting faculty is Professor Solange Lopes who teaches Managerial Accounting and founded the Corporate Sister, which aims to empower women in their careers.
Graduates
Of graduates in the Meehan School of Business Class of 2019, 89% were employed, in graduate programs, or engaged in postgraduate service within six months after graduation. The median income for 2019 Meehan School students six months after graduation is $53,000.
Accolades
Stonehill's business programs have accumulated multiple accolades. The Healthcare Administration Program at Stonehill is ranked as Best in the U.S., Stonehill is on Money's list of Best Colleges for Value, and the Marketing program at Stonehill is ranked among Best in U.S. and number five in Massachusetts.
Collaboration Rooms, Data Science Labs, and more
The technology made possible by the Meehan Business Building has improved student capabilities and has significantly impacted the classroom environment. Finance tools like Bloomberg and data science applications such as SAS Enterprise have been thoroughly incorporated into curriculums, giving students an immersive business approach.
Faculty Response to Meehan
Debra Salvucci
Debra Salvucci, CPA, was the Founding Dean of the Meehan School of Business. Dean Salvucci led the Business Department’s effort to achieve AACSB accreditation, ultimately lifting the department to a higher level of professionalism. Dean Salvucci says that the building is a very inspiring and beautiful space that is forever changing what we will be able to do in the future.
This is an impressive building that students are thrilled to be able to work in and have the resources and tools that the building provides—it changes the way you think about learning, it certainly changes the way you think about teaching, and what you can do in the classroom. We’ve always been great teachers, had great programs, and classes, but it does so much more because students and teachers think about ‘what else can I do, what else is possible.'
Debra Salvucci
Michael Mullen
Michael Mullen is an Associate Professor of Finance, the Finance Program Director, SCIFI Executive Director, and the Entrepreneurship Program Director. Mullen notes that Meehan has changed our level of education in a way previously not possible.
The education has always been top-notch, but the tools implemented here make it so much better. The building helps create a sense of community, a place to study and hang out. [Students are] replacing their time in the library with their time here, it has different places to go based on a students’ personality, big or small rooms, with a communal atmosphere.
Michael Mullen
Mitch Glavin
Mitch Glavin, Associate Professor of Healthcare Administration, has found the technology in the Meehan School of Business to be an advantage while teaching hyflex courses during the Fall 2020 semester in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
I have been using Meehan 216 to teach in hyflex mode this semester where I have students in the classroom with me and students connecting remotely. The classroom technology (including a camera to broadcast the whiteboard to remote students and speakerphone) has been very helpful for giving remote students a presence.
Mitch Glavin
Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer is the Associate Professor of Management, an attorney, and a CPA. He teaches Corporate Finance, First-Year Business Experience, and The Business Capstone.
The addition of the state-of-the-art Meehan School of Business has taken Stonehill business education to a level where it can compete with any business program in the country. For my own capstone strategy classes, the facilities for presentations, research, and analytics are superb and highly compliment Stonehill's experiential learning focus. Our business students are being well prepared and have all the tools at their disposal to prepare them to compete in the rapidly evolving business world.
Robert Spencer
Lee McGinnis
Lee McGinnis is a Professor of Marketing, the IMC Program Director, the Sports Commerce and Culture Program Co-Director, and the Faculty Athletics Representative. Professor McGinnis says that Meehan fills him up with a sense of pride every time he walks from Duffy Parking lot. The building is an obvious centerpiece on campus that sets Stonehill apart.
I am so proud to show prospective students this new space they get to learn in if they come here. It sets us up nicely for the future because there are no inhibitors. We can fully progress into the new decade that is upon us, and we have all this technology at our disposal.
Lee McGinnis
Great Room
Dedication of the Meehan School of Business
The Great Room is an excellent space for academic gatherings and holding conferences for the Stonehill community.
At the forefront is the Great Room's significant impact on every student and active member of the Stonehill community as a popular workspace on Stonehill College's campus. The Great Room served as a popular gathering space for Stonehill students who were completing their work while eating food from Gigi’s Café, conveniently sold just a few steps away on the first floor. Students also use the Great Room as a dynamic workspace for group projects at tables in the area.
“Outside of the dormitories and aside from the MacPháidín Library we’ve never had a space like this, it has entirely changed the campus as a whole and the experience in general.”
- Dean Salvucci
Social Gathering Space
Because it is both a beautiful and spacious area on Stonehill's campus, the Great Room is also a popular social gathering space. Over 25 events programs, conferences, and speakers took place during the 2019-2020 Academic Year in the Great Room, including the following signature programs and events:
• Meehan Dedication
• Meet the Firms
• The Financial Management Association Dinner
• A Career Day Alumni Reception
• A Providence College MBA Info Table
• The Economics Career Panel & Networking event
• The Stonehill DECA Conference
• A Marketing Networking Event
• The Deloitte Networking and Recruiting Dinner
• The PWC Networking Dinner
• The LGBTQ+ Social
Dedication of the Leo J. Meehan School of Business September 19, 2019
Transformative Funding
Without the generous support of alumni, parents, and friends of the College, and especially the transformative funding of Leo J. Meehan '75 and the W.B. Mason Company, the Leo J. Meehan School of Business would not be possible. We remain deeply grateful to all who have supported the construction of this new and innovative facility.
Leo J. Meehan '75, Debra Salvucci, President John Denning, C.S.C.
