Amid the hum and dust of construction, four MSU students rubbed shoulders with professionals in their field Wednesday while getting a sneak peak at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development.
The center, scheduled to open next month, will house the executive development programs of the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management and will host business people from across the country.
Such centers are common among the nation’s top business schools, and the administration at the graduate school feels the Henry center will propel MSU to that level.
So Young Lee, president of the MSU Chapter of the International Facility Management Association, joined others from her group and their Mid-Michigan chapter professional counterparts in a tour of the center.
“I am very impressed,” said Lee, a human environment and design graduate student. “It provides opportunities for lifelong learning.”
Lee accepted a $1,000 donation from the Mid-Michigan chapter to support her group’s library. She said the building is coming along well.
“When you are opening a building, you find things you don’t expect, but in its current status, it is a great facility,” she said.
Although two rooms in the center are already holding events, and the small auditoriums, breakout rooms and commons are receiving the finishing touches, the larger auditoriums, some social areas and the building’s entrance are still under construction.
David Frayer, acting director of Executive Development, led the tour of the 96,000-square-foot facility, which will feature a health club, the Forest Akers West Golf Course pro-shop and banquet center, a full-service bar and a separate hotel - all in addition to teaching and presentation facilities.
Frayer said the center will allow for conference-style learning, something that existing facilities on campus have struggled to provide.
“A lot of companies come to us and say they want a customized program in 2 to 3 months,” he said. “We needed a facility to handle this type of professional education.”
The center was built by private developers on university land. MSU has a 30-year lease with an option to buy the facility. Frayer said the arrangement allowed the developers to pay the up front cost, which worked better with MSU’s budget.
Frayer said some amenities, including a redesigned Forest Akers West Golf Course, will not be ready until next spring.
“People come expecting to have physical and recreation activities,” he said. “It is going to be a facility that the entire university can be proud of.”
Frayer said the refreshment area will be friendly to all different companies - a Coca-Cola soda fountain can be hidden to accommodate visiting business leaders from Pepsico Inc. with cans of Pepsi.
For those looking for more than a soda, Frayer said the bar overlooking the golf course will offer a place for professionals to talk informally with MSU faculty.
Sheri Wolford, president of the Mid-Michigan Chapter of the International Facility Management Association, said it appears MSU has thought of everything.
“Working professionals going back to the learning environment do better in more social settings that they are used to through their work environment,” she said. “They put a lot of thought and effort to make this facility useful in a wide variety of situations.”
