An exterior rendering of the Broad College of Business Pavilion Project project. Courtesy of the Broad College of Business.
On Sept. 8, the Eli Broad College of Business will be hosting the groundbreaking ceremony for the Broad College of Business Pavilion.
The Pavilion project is a $62 million facility for MSU business students estimated to be completed by Fall 2019. The construction began in June following President Lou Anna K. Simon's approval and, according to the media advisory, has been designed to represent the next phase of higher education.
“If you think about the current facilities that we have in our college, the Eppley Center and North Business Complex, they’re really very basic just classroom spaces, there’s not any place in the building for individual student teams to meet, to work on projects,” David Frayer, director of executive development programs in the Broad College of Business, said.
“We put a Starbucks... on the lower level of North Business Complex so students are able to gather a little bit in the hallway, but there’s really no space in the current complex that really is designed to allow students to work together, to collaborate, and to mimic the types of decision making and the types of environments that they’re going to be in the future."
According to Frayer, the plan is to put tear down the west wing of the Eppley Center and build a 100,000 square foot addition with three floors, more classroom spaces, team rooms for small group discussion and interactive activities, an open cafe seating area for student collaboration, a career management suite and more.
“A huge advantage of this facility is the opportunity to let students really experience business in a manner similar to what they’ll see in the real world, in the working environment," Frayer said.
President of the Broad Student Senate Yoodong Hwang is looking forward to the Pavilion project's impacts on business education and the business student community.
“Going through internships at a young age I understand that business is changing and becoming more group-oriented with a focus on teamwork and innovation," Hwang said. "What we hope that comes out of the business college is that same feeling of preparing students to enter the workforce and understanding what it’s like to be a team player... I think that this new renovation is going to allow for students to have that experience.”
According to Frayer, this new model will lead to better business education.
“There have been some studies that have been done that show the amount of time that students spend in and around the facilities could actually be much much higher if we had the right kind of spaces for them and so that’s a big piece of this, trying to create spaces that are going to facilitate that student experience, help them learn and experience what it’s going to be like to be in a business environment in the future," Frayer said.
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