James L. Allen Center

nice facility for meetings and kellogg has done a nice job of attracting executives and international students with this facility. nothing fancy, but its not so basic where you dont enjoy it.
i would recommend the executive classes if you can take it.

I was just recently back in the Allen Center for some Kellogg PhD orientations. The last time I was here, we were holding recruitment weekend here for the prospective doctoral students and were even able to stay in the executive rooms.
This time, we were limited to a few of the lecture rooms and the dining area. The seminar rooms are large and gorgeous. If you have a chance to attend a talk, workshop, or executive education course here, do so.
The food provided by the Allen Center has always been top-​notch — especially the dessert, and I’m not even much of a sweets guy. The banquet/​dining room is spacious and attractive. The entire east-​facing wall has an enviable view of Lake Michigan, so that’s another amazing perquisite of being here.
I will most likely be coming again anytime free food is involved.

The James L. Allen Center is part of Northwestern’s Campus and is designed to help facilitate the Executive Education program that teaches over 6000 executives annually in one of the 160 courses that are offered.
Located right on the shore of Lake Michigan, the location is lovely, with views from most rooms of ponds, greenery and Lake Michigan. The classes that are offered are taught by an amazing faculty with a wide range of experiences both inside and outside the classroom.
It’s important to note, that the Allen Center is set up to facilitate conversation amongst the students (executives from businesses all over the world) so it is structured to push people together. Spending time in your room is not encouraged so there are no TV’s in the sleeping rooms. In fact, the rooms are functional, at best, with the basic necessities only, although they do provide shampoo, conditioner, soap, a hairdryer and iron and ironing board.
The common areas are where the real discussions take place, from the state of the art classrooms, to the common dining rooms where you eat three meals a day, to the common break areas. In the evening, cocktail areas are set up in the various common areas to again foster dialog between the various groups who are in the facility at the same time.
If you want to exercise– they will give you a pass to the NU Sports Center which is perfect for a quick workout, swim or game of tennis. They also have bikes available that you can take out to the bike path along the lake. Or there is a small workout facility right in the Allen Center.
Trust me. This place is not fancy. I can’t think of the last time I wasn’t able to watch the news while I got ready in the morning. But this place is all about focusing on the task at hand which is learning and sharing and any distraction to that is minimized.
Oh well…I guess I’ll get my homework done after all! Not much else to do around here!