Bastin Hall is open for business.

That statement is even truer than it sounds. Bastin Hall, The Citadel’s first academic building to be constructed in three decades – is the gleaming new home for the Tommy and Victoria Baker School of Business (BSB).

With the finishing touches being put in place as the spring 2021 semester gets underway, Bastin Hall now houses some of the college’s most popular programs. Close to 600 cadets are majoring in business and approximately 375 Citadel Graduate College students are pursuing a Master of Business Administration or completing undergraduate degrees with the BSB.

“Bastin Hall, with its fluid architectural design, collaborative spaces, high-tech classrooms and fresh approach to conveying the college’s iconic architecture is a learning complex that now reflects the exemplary quality of the business education The Citadel provides,” said The Citadel President, Gen. Glenn M. Walters, USMC (Ret.). “Bastin Hall, thanks to the remarkable generosity of Rick and Mary Lee Bastin, will for generations serve the needs of future entrepreneurs and business leaders who specifically seek out The Citadel as the place to attain a business education.”

Located on Hagood Avenue and linking the main campus to the football stadium, Bastin Hall now stands as one of the college’s most welcoming features. The BSB faculty moved into Bastin Hall in January from Bond Hall, where The Citadel’s business school was located for many years.

The building blocks of Bastin Hall

The state-of-the-art facility was made possible because of a more than $6 million gift provided by Rick Bastin, The Citadel Class of 1965, and his wife Mary Lee, through The Citadel Foundation (TCF). The Bastins have long supported The Citadel, previously supplying funds to create the Bastin Financial Lab in the BSB’s old location. Re-named The Mary Lee and Rick Bastin, ’65, Financial Trading Lab, the facility is now a focal point of the new building.

“After several years in the works, it is exciting to see Bastin Hall become a reality this semester as the new home of the Baker School of Business,” said Rick Bastin, ’65, in a statement sent from his home in Florida. “State-of-the-art spaces such as the Financial Trading Lab and the Entrepreneur Lab will help the college recruit and retain a faculty of leading scholars and business professionals. It is my hope that future generations of Citadel cadets, evening undergraduates, and MBA students will benefit from this innovative space as they learn to become principled business leaders who achieve success in their field and give back to their communities.”

In addition to the Bastins, more than 50 other individuals, families, businesses and Citadel classes provided the substantial donations needed to fully realize the vision for the building through TCF. Plaques located throughout Bastin Hall will recognize the areas funded by their individual gifts, such as the Darby Family Lobby, in recognition of the Georgia and John Darby Family, ’85; the Jimmy Kerr, ’65, and Bunny Kerr Family Rooftop Terrace; and the Class of 1977 Great Lawn.

Special features

Bastin Hall is approximately 44,000-square-feet. In addition to top-of-the-line technology-equipped classrooms, gathering spaces, breakout rooms, and academic offices, some of the building’s other notable features include the following:

• Advising Center
• Financial Services Center
• Entrepreneurship-Innovation Lab
• Professional Selling Lab
• Large commons area
• Balcony commons area

“It’s amazing how much a new building can affect the feel of an entire academic program,” said Cadet Taurus Brown, an Accounting major, who attends The Citadel on a U.S. Air Force contract and is the head Drillmaster for the Corps. “We are all energized by being in Bastin Hall for our classes and labs, and to socialize and meet with like-minded students – which, despite the pandemic, we are able to do there. The new building’s large spaces enable us to get together safely, with social distancing to collaborate on class projects.”

Additionally, the building features a Student Success Suite with significant resources for all students including those pursing degrees through The Citadel Graduate College.

“We are excited about the possibilities in this new building,” said Michael R. Weeks, Ph.D., USAF (Ret.), dean of the BSB. “In addition to a state-of-the-art finance lab, we also have a remarkable sales training lab in the building for our new Marketing and Business Development majors. Moreover, we are confident that the collaborative spaces in this building will transform the educational experience for our students.”

Liollio Architecture partnered with The Citadel to design and construct Bastin Hall. THS Constructors served as the general contractor for the project. Through a coincidence benefitting this bold new enterprise, the company connects The Citadel’s long-standing engineering and business legacies – the THS chairman and founder, Howard Suitt, graduated from The Citadel with a Civil Engineering degree in 1948, and company’s the senior vice president, Tom Suitt, earned a Business Administration degree from The Citadel in 1974.

About the Tommy and Victoria Baker School of Business

The Tommy & Victoria Baker School of Business develops innovative leaders of principle to serve a global community. The school is accredited by AACSB International and is a recognized leader in business education.