George S. Eccles Business Building (1900-1982)
George Stoddard Eccles served as chairman and CEO of First Security Corporation (now Wells Fargo) for more than four decades, leading not only the nation’s first operating bank holding company and multi-state banking empire, but also playing an active part in national and international business and banking.
A son of pioneering Utah industrialist David Eccles and his wife Ellen Stoddard Eccles, George was raised in Logan, Utah. After attending Utah State University and the University of California at Berkeley, he earned a business degree in 1922 from Columbia University in New York.
After graduation, George began his career at New York City’s Irving Bank & Trust, one of the city’s major financial institutions at the time. Later that year, he returned to Utah to accept a leadership role with his family’s banks and to help establish First Security Corporation.
Construction commenced on Utah State University’s first business building in December 1968. The George S. Eccles Business Building was completed in March 1970 and was dedicated on May 8, 1970.
Shingo Institute/ Shigeo Shingo Auditorium (1909-1990)
Room 215
A program of Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, the Shingo Institute exists to improve the process of improvement by conducting cutting-edge research, providing relevant education, performing insightful enterprise assessments and recognizing organizations committed to achieving sustainable, world-class results. The institute is home to the Shingo Prize, the global standard for operational excellence.
Shigeo Shingo was the sensei hired by Toyota to help develop the Toyota Production System. In his 17 books, he introduced revolutionary manufacturing concepts, such as error proofing, single-minutes exchange of die, single-piece flow and others. In 1988, Utah State University awarded Shigeo an honorary doctorate degree.
FJ Management Center for Student Success
Room 317
In 2014, through a generous donation from the Call Family Foundation, Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business opened the FJ Management Center for Student Success. The center brings together undergraduate advising and career development under one organizational structure and in one physical space to create a “one-stop-shop” for students seeking academic and career advising.
The undergraduate academic advising team includes several advisors recognized at the university, regional and national level. The career development team meets with students in one-on-one and group settings to prepare them for life after graduation.
The FJ Management Center pioneered the use of an online appointment manager system that allows students to make an appointment with their academic or career advisors from the convenience of their phone. While simplifying the process for students, this system also increases effectiveness and efficiency for the advisors by providing them with data about the students prior to their scheduled meetings.
O.C. Tanner Lounge
9th Floor
The ninth floor of Utah State University’s George S. Eccles Business Building holds the O.C. Tanner Lounge, a room quite unlike any other room on campus. Obert C. Tanner was a University of Utah professor of philosophy, philanthropist and founder of the O.C. Tanner Company, one of the largest manufacturers of retail and corporate awards in the United States.
Around 1969, O.C. visited USU’s Logan Campus as construction of the business building was nearing completion. Standing at the bottom of the building and looking up, he asked what the top of the building was used for. Upon learning the top floor was to be used for mechanical storage, he decided to make a financial gift to support the remodeling of that space into a beautiful event space. In subsequent years, he continued to donate to the university to provide for ongoing maintenance and updates to the 9th floor, now known as the O.C. Tanner Lounge. He dedicated the room to “the young people of the West” in memory of his three sons.
*Note: All bios are current and up-to-date as of Summer 2022.