After months of construction, the Naveen Jindal School of Management’s third building is now open. The building, which will start hosting classes this fall, brings with it new classroom space, more study areas and UTD’s second Starbucks.
JSOM associate dean Gaurav Shekhar gave The Retrograde a guided tour of the building. Shekhar said he was excited about the new opportunities the space would give to students.
“We are giving students a space where they can huddle together around our new trees and water features and just feel good,” Shekhar said. “It’s very exciting to finish what I can say looks like a five-star hotel lobby. I think that definitely enhances the students’ perception about their school, their ability to perform as a student, and just, you know, when you feel better, you do things better.”
A large common space area dominates the first floor of JSOM III — it includes the new campus Starbucks as well as tables and a stage for students to study, socialize and host events. Shekhar said that they planned on installing a “very tasteful” and “very Dallasy” mural as well as additional water features and fountains to make students feel comfortable in the new space.
“Our goal is that when you see something like this, just know that’s the space that they’re going to have for students,” Shekhar said, gesturing to a central gathering area. “The most exciting thing here is anybody who sits in this building will feel good.”
In total, the three story building adds an additional 125,000 square-feet to the interconnected JSOM complex. The second and third floors are built to house a mix of classrooms and faculty office, with floor-to-ceiling glass doors on offices to create what Shekhar described as a space for transparent connection.
“When students walk in, they know somebody’s there,” Shekhar said. “In most cases, people are there, but if the door is shut, you feel as if nobody’s there. This takes away that feeling.”
Final touches are still being placed on parts of JSOM III. Shekhar said students can expect the building to change with them throughout the fall semester. JSOM dean Hasan Pirkul said that as offices are completed, the school will be moving all undergraduate resources, staff and advisors into the new building.
“I’m trying to position the school so that this new building will be the headquarters for undergrads,” Pirkul said.
JSOM III adds a total of 12 new classrooms, six of which are equipped with cameras. Shekhar said that the camera classrooms, which JSOM had started using in its older buildings, would allow them to make the classroom experience accessible outside of the classroom itself.
“Offering live synchronous classes is gonna be the next thing in the world,” Shekhar said. “People have different preferences today and flexibility is at the top of the list. Imagine that you could have a class with somebody while not making them travel 50 miles each day. With these rooms we can still have a very engaging experience.”
Shekhar said that multiple spaces in the new building have been reserved for student organizations since JSOM I and II did not provide enough student group areas.
“If you’ve been active, you get a space,” Shekhar said. “We just want to make sure that there is enough for students so they don’t have to really fight for basic things or ask questions like, ‘do I have a space to do some stuff?’”
The $98 million expansion comes in a period of continued growth for JSOM. Last fall JSOM welcomed its largest freshmen class with 1,113 students. Shekhar said they expect over 1,400. Shekhar said that much of this growth continues to come from their international outreach.
“We have been a university that has attracted some of the largest numbers of international students who have come from all over the world,” Shekhar said. “The school has come so far in terms of program offerings, rankings and student engagement.”
Shekhar said that the school was dedicated to making the experience for students as enriching as possible, and he felt that recent accolades for the university showed they were on the right track. In 2026, US News & World Report ranked JSOM’s part-time graduate programs the 17th best in the U.S. and their overall graduate program 23rd overall.
Recent billboards around campus advertise JSOM’s research ranking as the second best in the country — above schools like Columbia and Harvard. This second place ranking comes from JSOM’s annual UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings™.
“I went to school here 11 years ago,” Shekhar said. “I got my master’s and PhD here. I haven’t seen more hardworking students than what I’ve seen now. They energize us. The students are the reason why we have so many good things in our lives.”