DARTMOUTH — Students at the UMass Dartmouth Charlton College of Business will enjoy a major improvement in their academic life when they return for the fall semester: their own classrooms.

Seems basic. What is a school without classrooms? Charlton students and faculty know. For a decade, business students have held their classes here, there and everywhere on campus. While the college’s administration building houses faculty offices, the students lack a place where they can go to meet with each other, socialize, and conduct meetings in state-of-the-art classrooms designed to function in just the way a business school needs them to.

Now, thanks to a fundraising drive led by former UMass Trustees Chairman Robert Karam of Fall River and by the Charlton Foundation, led by “Chuck” Charlton, who died in 2015, Charlton has built the second of two connected buildings that were anticipated when the first one was opened in 2004.

It fulfills Charlton’s wish that the Earle Charlton family fortune — made from the legendary Woolworth stores, which began on South Main Street in Fall River in 1902 — would benefit locally, a logical choice being the business college.

And perhaps it will turn out to be just in time as the college prepares for another leap forward: A hoped-for addition of a doctorate in business administration, which would give Charlton a complete portfolio of studies.

'Totally focused'

The new building “is totally focused on the students,” said construction manager Mike Hayes. The first floor will be mainly student activities, with four classrooms on the second and third floor that will handle the class schedule that formerly had students scattering to the four winds on campus.

Outdoors there is a large patio that is expected to prove popular with the approximately 2,000 graduate and undergraduate business students in the way that the ground-floor lounge has been a magnet for students at the renovated and expanded library.

The airy design of the large atrium lives up to the description of the place as a “learning pavilion.”

Tucked behind the first business school building, the new $15 million structure was designed to create a new facade facing the parking lots, creating an obvious and inviting entrance to the school and to the rest of the campus.

Inside, much thought has been given to providing study spaces, meeting spaces, research facilities and student clubs.

Dean A. "Guna" Gunasekaran, in an emailed response to questions from The Standard-Times, wrote, “The learning pavilion houses a business innovation research center and has office space for full-time lecturers that would enrich the interaction between students and professors. Since all the three floors of the learning pavilion are connected with the existing building that houses the offices of our faculty, staff and college administrators, the new facility will greatly increase student interaction with professors and staff.”

The classrooms, from 30 seats to a 160 seat auditorium, contain design touches. In one classroom, the desks and chairs are placed on risers, two rows of desks to each step. That allows the front row to swivel around and face the back row at the same level, perfect for the kind of small group exercises that are common in business schools, said Hayes.

There are already accommodations for the expected Ph.D. students, said Gunasekaran. “The Ph.D. program in business administration will be starting at a very significant time in our history. We will have dedicated space for graduate students, particularly for Ph.D. students,” he wrote.

Pushing for a Ph.D.

Despite the preparations, the fate of the Ph.D. program is in jeopardy, after the state Board of Higher Education failed to approve the university's proposal last fall. But optimism is high among the faculty that this may finally be the year it gets the green light.

Gunasekaran underscored the unique position that UMass Dartmouth occupies in the world of higher education in Massachusetts and how that relates to the potential of a Ph.D. program. “It would be a great day for UMass Dartmouth and the region when our doctoral program is approved. Massachusetts is a state known for innovation and education and with UMass Dartmouth being the only Massachusetts research university south of Boston, this would help create an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the region,” he said by email.

He noted that the Charlton faculty, staff and students have approved of the program, as have UMass President Marty Meehan, interim Chancellor Randy Helm, and Provost Mohammad Karim.

The Board of Trustees followed suit in July 2015.

“There is strong demand for the program among people already working in the region and who want to attain the highest level of education in their field,” wrote Gunasekaran. “In addition, the presence and participation of Ph.D. students in the life of the college enhances the education of undergraduate and master’s students.”

“We have the strong support from other stakeholders as well, including Chambers of Commerce, alumni, SouthCoast business leaders, Salem State University and Bridgewater State University,” Gunasekaran continued.

But that hasn’t been enough to put the proposal across the finish line.

As Helm noted in an address before the Greater New Bedford Chamber of Commerce in June, the Ph.D. proposal hit an obstacle with the state Board of Higher Education, more specifically the Academic Affairs Committee that vets proposals such as this one. Helm noted that this was the sole proposal from the university to be blocked by the Board of Higher Education last October, reflecting a stance toward SouthCoast that is very much like the years of opposition to the UMass School of Law in Dartmouth.

“The SouthCoast doesn’t need this,” Helm recalled Education Secretary James Peyser as saying. “What the heck? We’re not good enough?”

It's a reasonable question as the business school has seen enrollment growth in recent years, the MBA program doubled its enrollment over the past 4 years, Gunasekaran said. The school also added three new Master’s of Science programs in accounting, health care management, and technology management.

State Approval MIA

Peyser, who is on vacation and could not be reached for comment, answered a letter of support for the Ph.D. program sent to him and the Board of Higher Education, that was co-signed by New Bedford Chamber of Commerce President Rick Kidder and Greater Fall River of Commerce and Industry President Robert Mellion. The two advocated for the Ph.D. program as much needed by the region’s business community.

“Many SouthCoast companies have had a very difficult time in attracting and securing talented senior level management candidates,” they wrote. “The Ph.D. program in business administration at the Charlton College of Business would address this problem by preparing existing executives and working professionals for advanced positions within the financial, niche manufacturing, green technology health and life sciences and professional industry clusters.”

“Clearly, there is a need for the Ph.D. in business administration at UMass Dartmouth,” they wrote.

“It is our understanding that the Ph.D. program has been endorsed by the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees as well as the Board of Higher Education professional staff and the commissioner of higher education, yet is being opposed by you.

“This raises serious questions about the fairness of the process. It also once again demonstrates a lack of respect for the SouthCoast region and its institutions that too often seems to emanate from Boston,” they wrote.

Yet the state's Academic Affairs Committee, Peyser noted in his reply, tabled the proposal because of questions that members had about the need for the Ph.D. program at Charlton. It was the only one of several UMass proposals considered by the board that did not win approval last fall.

“The academic affairs committee of the Board of Higher Education determined that the university did not make a sufficiently compelling case that increasing the number of doctoral degrees in business administration is the highest and best use of our scarce capital,” Peyser wrote.

“Of course, I remain open to hearing additional views or new evidence.”

Peyser noted that “in both your letters you make the same reference to jobs in the ‘financial, niche manufacturing, green technology, health and life sciences and professional industry clusters.' I would be grateful if you could provide me with the names of companies in the region that are actively seeking to hire staff who hold Ph.D.s in business administration, so that I might follow up with them directly.”

Chamber President Mellion said he called that “a less than flattering response,” and he made Gov. Charlie Baker aware of it. “We really believe that the doctoral program would be beneficial in attracting businesses to our area,” he told The Standard-Times.

A spokesman for the Department of Higher Education said the Ph.D. proposal was withdrawn earlier this year and will have to be resubmitted. University spokesman John Hoey said the administration is already working on providing the answers sought by the state and will re-file the proposal when that process is complete, with no prediction on the date.

Follow Steve Urbon on Twitter @SteveUrbonSCT.