Our future, reimagined
At Tippie, we do more than teach business. We inspire bold thinking, nurture innovative minds, and spark breakthrough moments. And we’re poised to take the lead in business education.
As our momentum continues to grow, so do our aspirations. That’s why we’re expanding our footprint, reimagining our learning environment, and investing in a future that’s as bright as the students we serve. Our next step is an ambitious $60 million expansion project—a state-of-the-art addition to our business campus that will allow us to better support the leaders and changemakers driving our ever-evolving industry.
This is more than a renovation. It’s a transformation.
Beyond business as usual
Tippie is a college on the rise—and we’re not content with the status quo:
- U.S. News & World Report ranked us among the top 20 public business schools nationwide for 2025.
- Our Iowa MBA program is one of the top 25 in the nation.
- We boast a 97% placement rate.
- We are the third largest college on campus.
In addition, our faculty members continue to share their groundbreaking discoveries in publications and classrooms, and our graduates regularly ascend to the C-Suite. To remain competitive in the face of tightening budgets and changing industry standards, we must provide the first-rate technology and real-world experiences our students have come to expect.
Still growing strong
When the Pappajohn Business Building opened in 1994, our college had 1,600 students and nearly 100 full-time faculty. Today, we’re operating beyond capacity. Our finance major alone now enrolls more than 1,200 students, making it the largest at Iowa. Last year, we saw a record enrollment of more than 4,000 undergraduate business students on campus and more than 1,700 off-campus graduate students across the country—as well as more than 150 faculty and staff to support them.
With the addition of risk management and insurance and corporate accounting, two new bachelor’s degrees in economics, and an entrepreneurship major, we anticipate more than 5,000 undergraduate students within the next few years. Our reputation for attainable excellence will ensure that we continue to be a destination for business education in the Big Ten.
What’s next
To address these growing needs, we’re sustainably adding 65,000 square feet by renovating and expanding into the historic Gilmore Hall, which shares our green space and is conveniently located on Jefferson St., across from the Pentacrest Museums. We plan to modernize this 1910 building while carefully preserving its historic character.
The project will include a dual-purpose glass atrium, which will link the two buildings and become the heart of the new business campus—along with additional courtyard green space, functional outdoor seating, and new building entrances. These changes will make the Henry B. Tippie College of Business a collaborative campus and community hub, enlivening an entire city block.
However, before we can break ground, we must raise 90% of the project’s estimated $60 million cost. Please join us in bringing this vision to life!
A new era of excellence
Tippie students are talented, driven, and ready to lead. They need an academic environment that will give them the hands-on experiences necessary to step into demanding roles on day one.
Our new campus will facilitate this real-world educational approach by making space for collaborative capstone courses, communications labs, industry partnerships, and more. It also will allow our students to interact with faculty, employers, and alumni in innovative spaces that include:
Two new active-learning classrooms
An executive conference room overlooking the courtyard and iconic Pentacrest
Hands-on labs for sales, communications, analytics, and artificial intelligence training
An enhanced career services suite just for Tippie students
A student success hub where groups can host meetings; engage with industry leaders; and access tutoring, supplemental instruction, and Tippie Thrive
A 150-seat premier event space to host students, employers, and alumni for conferences and more; it also can function as a prospective student hub on the main floor
More than 50 additional offices for faculty and staff, as well as neighborhoods where students and faculty gather and work together
A suite where students from our finance institutes can interact with employers, peers, and others
A John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center hub that will foster community among young entrepreneurs and prepare them for an AI-integrated future
Outdoor green space to help promote the physical and mental well-being of our students, faculty, and staff
Our blueprint for success
Tippie is among the top-ranked, best-value business programs in the country thanks to our talented students, exceptional faculty, and loyal alumni and friends like you.
Now it’s time to expand our impact. Please join us in shaping the future of business education—where visionary spaces inspire visionary thinking. Your generous support for this important initiative will power innovation, fuel student and faculty success, and ensure our economic impact in the state of Iowa and beyond.
Together, Hawkeyes are changing the way we do business—and creating the Tippie of tomorrow.