Mike
Ilitch
School
of
Business
on the
rise in
District
Detroit By
Karen
Hudson
Samuels
Tell Us
Detroit
DETROIT
- A tour
inside
the new
Mike
Ilitch
School
of
Business
reveals
how a
state-of-the-art
learning
environment
is being
constructed
to
educate
future
business
leaders.
Tell
Us
Detroit
went on
a hard
hat
walk-through
recently
of the
four
story
120,000
foot
facility
under
construction
just
north of
the new
Little
Caesars
Arena on
Woodward
Avenue
in
Detroit
and made
possible
by a $40
million
gift
from
Mike and
Marian
Ilitch.
It is on
schedule
to open
by
spring
of 2018.
Construction
crews
worked
uninterrupted
on
interior
framing
and
drywall
as
Christman-Brinker
project
engineer
Isiah
White
led the
way
though
the
heated
portions
of the
building
pointing
out
design
features
that
will
serve
thousands
of
undergraduate
and
graduate
students.
The tour
began on
the 4th
floor
with a
breathtaking
view of
the
Detroit
skyline
as seen
from the
Woodward
Terrace,
an
enclosed
environmentally
green
space
running
the
length
of the
building’s
south
wall.
White
said the
Terrance
will be
able to
host a
variety
of
social
and
academic
events.
Faculty
offices,
a Board
Room,
the
Dean’s
suite
and
meeting
rooms
are all
also
housed
on the
4th
floor
where we
met
spokesman
Steven
Townsend,
Director
of
Marketing
and
Communication
who
talked
about
how
enrollment
started
going up
when the
new
business
school
was
first
announced
in 2015.
“Enrollment
over the
last two
plus
years
has gone
from
around
right
around
3,000 to
4,000”,
Townsend
said
with the
majority
of the
increase
in M.B.A
programs
where
enrollment
has gone
from 600
to
approximately
1,300.
He said
enthusiasm
is being
felt by
students
as new
faculty
members
are
being
brought
on
board.
Student
and
faculty
recruitment
has been
spurred
said
Townsend
by the
local
and
national
attention
given
Detroit’s
revitalization
and a
school
that is
located
right in
the
heart of
it.
On
the 2nd
and 3rd
floors
where
classrooms
and
student
services
are
housed,
we meet
one of
the new
faculty
members,
Dr.
Christine
Jackson
Chair of
the
Department
of
Management
and
Information
Systems,
who said
great
effort
has been
made to
grow the
information
systems
programs.
A new
Master’s
program
in Big
Data is
being
launched
said Dr.
Jackson
who
added
that the
new
school
will be
equipped
with
technology
and
software
that
keeps
pace
with
developments
in the
information
systems
field.
All of
the
classrooms
in the
new
building
have
access
to
natural
light to
enable
an open
learning
environment.
Their
layout
along
the
exterior
walls
brings
in the
light
and is
the
result
said Dr.
Jackson
of
having
faculty
and
students
serving
on
building
planning
committee.
Classrooms
will
also be
equipped
with
glass
marker
boards
and
Wi-Fi
wiring.
Another
building
configuration
Dr.
Jackson
is
especially
pleased
with is
the
layout
of
Career
Planning
and
Placement
services
on the
2nd
floor
that
will be
visible
from the
atrium
and
courtyard
areas
when
students
enter
the
building
from
Woodward
Avenue.
In the
old
school
these
services
were in
a
different
building.
On
the
ground
level
students
will
have
access
to a
Finance
Lab, an
Entrepreneur
Pop-Up,
an
Executive
MBA
Suite
and a
Café.
The Mike
Ilitch
School
of
Business
which
will
offer
Undergraduate,
Graduate
and
Executive
Education
Programs,
is
already
drawing
increased
interest
and buzz
around
new
programs
in
entrepreneurship,
innovation
and
sports
and
entertainment
management.
Starting
this
fall,
M.B.A
students
will be
also
able to
pursue a
concentration
in
sports
and
entertainment.
The
school’s
proximity
to the
city’s
sports
arenas
means
easy
access
to
business
executives
and
speakers
from the
Red
Wings,
Lions,
Tigers
and
Pistons.
The
location
of the
new
building
will
allow
students
to walk
to the
sports
and
entertainment
program
for
consulting
projects
and
experiential
exercises.
A
statement
on Wayne
State
University
website,
by Scott
Tainsky
who
heads up
the
school's
new
sports
and
entertainment
management
program,
captures
the
energy
the Mike
Ilitch
School
of
Business
is
generating.
This is
where
you get
the
pulse of
the
city."
The
District
Detroit
Live Web
Cams
shows
construction
progress
at the
Mike
Ilitch
School
of
Business
at
http://www.districtdetroit.com/live-web-cam