The Beck Center, planned $13.5 million Statler addition, dedicated June 10

From left, School of Hotel Administration Dean David Butler, Emeritus Dean Robert Beck and President Hunter Rawlings take part in groundbreaking ceremonies, June 10, for Statler Hall's new Beck Center. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Linda Myers

The Beck Center, a planned addition to Statler Hall on Cornell's campus, was dedicated June 10 in honor of former Hotel School Dean Robert A. Beck and his late wife, Jan M. Beck.

Construction of the Beck Center, a 36,000-square-foot teaching facility to be added to Statler Hall, is expected to begin in fall 2002 and be completed by 2004. The cost will be about $13.5 million. The addition will be located in the current parking lot area on the east side of Statler Hall.

"The Beck Center will enable the Hotel School to continue its role as a leading research and teaching center for the hospitality industry," said Hotel School Dean David W. Butler.

The planned addition to Statler Hall will give the school much-needed space for its academic programs. Some highlights: a lecture hall seating 140 people; three case-study rooms, two accommodating 80 students and one holding 60; an expanded computer center; additional meeting rooms; and a three-story glass atrium. Statler Hall, which houses Hotel School classrooms, offices for faculty and staff and the school's library, is physically linked to the Statler Hotel, considered the world's largest teaching hotel. The entire structure was last revamped in a project that was completed in 1988-89.

Participating in the dedication ceremony for the Beck Center were President Hunter Rawlings; Beck, the honoree; and the current dean, Butler. Also in attendance were Cornell presidents emeriti Frank H.T. Rhodes and Dale Corson and former Hotel School deans David Dittman and Jack Clark.

An architectural drawing of the east elevation of the planned Beck Center, as seen from Barton Hall. KSS Architects LLP

Robert Beck served as dean of the Hotel School from 1961 to 1981. Under his leadership, the school doubled in size, gained international recognition and became known as an important research center. Jan Beck, who died in 1999, was so involved with the Hotel School during her husband's deanship that students dubbed her "the first lady of Statler Hall."

Under Beck's tenure, the school launched a Master of Professional Studies program (now known as the Master of Management in Hospitality) and expanded its executive education program. He also started Institut de Management Hôtelier International (IMHI), a Paris-based hotel school program in conjunction with a well-known French business school, and took over IMHI's leadership after he stepped down as dean in 1981. A former resident of Slaterville, N.Y., Beck now lives in Sarasota, Fla.

Of the funds needed to complete the Beck Center project, $11 million already has been raised from alumni and friends of the school.