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  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


 

 

 

   
 
 

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