On Monday, Iowa State University will open to students its newest academic structure, the Gerdin Business Building.

The four-story building, packed with electronic gadgets and designed specifically for business courses, has been in the works for 5 1/2 years. The $25 million building is located at the southeast edge of the school’s Central Lawn, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, whose famous projects include New York City’s Central Park.

The building, designed by Ev Ruffcorn and Iowa State alumnus Dan Huberty of the Portland, Ore.-based architecture firm of Zimmer, Gunsul and Fraska, gives the College of Business another tool in its efforts to recruit top students and professors. Construction of the building follows efforts by the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business a decade ago to build the $34 million John Pappajohn Business Administration Building.

“I think it will help us tremendously,” said Labh Hira, dean of the business school. “It takes three components to make a really good educational institution; students, faculty and facilities. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ve put the facility issue to rest.”

More than 4,100 students are enrolled in Iowa State’s business program, making it the third-largest school behind the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Engineering.

Plans for the building began in 1998, when Heartland Express Inc. founder Russell Gerdin and his wife, Ann, donated $10 million to the effort. The gift was unusual because Gerdin didn’t attend Iowa State, though he does serve as a member of the school’s College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council.

“For someone who didn’t go to your institution, putting that kind of money on the table is a remarkable act of generosity,” Hira said.

Wireless Internet access is possible from every room and space in the building. Each of its eight classrooms is equipped with a variety of multimedia equipment, including DVD players, VCRs, and sound and video projectors. A desktop computer is available in each room for an instructor, and there are ports into which students can plug in their laptop computers. Among other capabilities, the technology enables professors to put together presentations in their offices and access them from any of the classrooms.

Other features include a 300-seat auditorium, four computer labs that seat up to 90 students each, eight so-called team rooms for group projects, separate spaces for graduate and undergraduate students, and a variety of career-related resources, including a recruiting lounge and four conference rooms. The 110,000-square-foot building will also be home to an outreach center for the state Small Business Development Center.

Hira, who has taught at Iowa State for 22 years and served as dean for three, said his next challenge will be to raise money to increase faculty salaries so the school can attract top-rated teachers and staff.

“My next challenge is, with the budget, to help us provide fundraising to help us attract faculty and staff,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 challenge.