How Curris became the heart of business at UNI
How Curris became the heart of business at UNI
In spring 1989, a small evergreen tree was hoisted up toward the sky atop the final steel beam placed for the Curris Business Building. It was a "topping off" ceremony — a centuries-old European tradition symbolizing the strength and growth of a new structure.
For the faculty and students of the University of Northern Iowa’s business program, that evergreen represented something more: a long-awaited breath of fresh air.
When the Curris building doors finally opened in 1990, the $10.2 million investment provided a bigger space and a professional identity for the College of Business. But beyond its physical traits, the building reflected a direction UNI had set for itself: training highly qualified leaders for a modern world.
Today, as the Curris Business Building wraps up its 35th academic year, its red-brick facade stands as a bridge between the grit of the program’s origins and a technology-driven future.
Building upon success
The story of the Curris building is one of persistence.
By the 1970s and ’80s, UNI’s burgeoning business program had become a victim of its own success. Enrollment was skyrocketing, and the program had evolved into a powerhouse that the physical campus could no longer contain. Housed in the aging, overcrowded corridors of Seerley Hall, professors and students operated in facilities that remained inadequate despite a 1966 renovation.
An initial plan in 1976 for a four-story facility fell through when a federal grant was denied, and the school had to wait another decade while enrollment continued to surge.
In 1981, the School of Business was established as an independent college. And by the time the state approved bonding for a new building in 1986, the program had already earned its reputation for producing work-ready graduates — often first-generation college kids from rural Iowa.
So UNI hired an architect to design a new classroom and office building, housing facilities for the School of Business and the Academic Computing Center. It would be located just east of Russell Hall, on the site of Prexy's Pond and the tennis courts.
“The present pond is a mess,” Leland Thomson, the director of Campus Planning at the time, had bluntly stated about the pond, a campus landmark since 1935 that sat alongside a less-than-picturesque coal pile from the old power plant.
But Thomson still envisioned a building in that spot that would symbolize a "nice transition from old to new” — a juxtaposition of red brick and limestone.
After the site was cleaned up, construction began and the Curris building was completed in July 1990 and opened for classes that fall. On June 25, 1991, over 150 business and community leaders, faculty and students formally dedicated the new building with "A Celebration of Business."
It marked the start of something special.
"[The building is] an important investment by the people of the state in our future and their future,” said then-President Constantine “Deno” Curris, who became the namesake of the building in 1998. “We are mindful of the trust placed in us."
Mirroring a modern business world
Over the last 35 years, the interior of the Curris building has transitioned to reflect the shifts in business.
A major pivot to a high-tech future was the Transamerica Business Intelligence and Analytics Lab, which opened in 2019. Funded by a $500,000 gift from the Aegon Transamerica Foundation, the lab is a technology-driven learning environment featuring nine workstations tied together by a high-resolution monitor and laptops, simulating a modern, collaborative business environment.
Working in teams, students can share information on their computers to a larger screen, so the entire class can analyze a problem. This type of teamwork is essential in a world where data sets are growing exponentially.
"If we can provide a workspace that is more likely to mimic the kind of workspace the students are going to have when they get their jobs; that makes them much better prepared,” said Mary Connerley, who joined UNI in 2009 and now serves as the associate dean of the Wilson College of Business. “They're able to hit the ground running at a much faster pace."
The high-tech momentum continued with the college’s newest crown jewel: the Finance and Real Estate Analytics Lab. Supported by 32 donors as part of the Our Tomorrow campaign, the lab opened in 2025 and mimics a professional brokerage, complete with a scrolling stock ticker and 14 workstations with industry-standard software like Eikon, CoStar and Argus.
The impact for students has been immediate.
Amber Halbur, a senior double-majoring in marketing and real estate, used the lab to master Argus software, helping her land a full-time position at SitusAMC, a commercial and residential real estate advisory firm, before she even graduated.
“Having early exposure to the software through the lab has given me a stronger understanding of how valuations are developed and has better prepared me to contribute in a professional setting,” she said. “Employers place a high value on candidates who already have hands-on experience with platforms like Argus or CoStar, so having that background strengthens skill sets and increases attractiveness to companies in the appraisal and valuation industry.”
For Connerley, the updated footprint of the building reflects the industry’s shift toward big data. Turning raw information into intelligence is a huge competitive edge.
"Having the up-to-date computer labs, they’re really more than just a facility resource,” Connerley said. “They’re really a strategic investment in our students' future."
A tech-driven future
And there are more investments coming up for the Curris building. If the last 35 years were defined by growth and data-driven learning, the next era seems to be even more data-driven with one huge addition: artificial intelligence.
One of the ways the Wilson College of Business is planning to meet that need is through a grant-funded initiative that will provide students with hands-on experience using AI tools to support research and data analysis projects.
The concept is still being fleshed out with faculty and industry experts, but the future is exciting.
We recognize the business landscape is changing. We want the labs to serve as an innovation hub where what the students have learned from a theoretical standpoint can meet practice.
In addition to artificial intelligence, spaces within the Curris building are being reimagined to emphasize experiential, tech-enabled learning. Most software packages found in labs are now running on the cloud. Students can run complex simulations from their living rooms or the first-floor lounge. But they still turn to the labs to work as teams and connect with faculty.
This forward-leaning vision has been bolstered by the historic $25 million gift from David W. Wilson in 2023, which created the first named college at UNI. The gift helps the building — and the programs it houses — remain at the cutting edge of business ethics and technological integration.
Yet for all its high-tech upgrades, the physical footprint of the Curris building remains the college’s heartbeat. These labs and collaborative spaces are where the Student Investment Group gathers to outperform professional portfolios and where marketing teams craft national award-winning pitches.
More than just a building, Curris symbolizes the Wilson College of Business culture. While returning alumni who saw the building in its early days may be struck by the "wow" factor of the new technology, they can still recognize the bond between students and faculty in the space — a culture that remains as strong as ever as the building looks toward its next 35 years.
