April 3, 2005 - 5:00pm
It’s official - Malaspina University-College is getting a new School of Management Centre on the Nanaimo campus.
The provincial government and Malaspina are co-funding a $9-million building that will bring the departments of Business, Recreation and Toursim Management, Hospitality Management, Economics, and Master of Business Administration under one roof.
"We’re delighted to partner with the Province to build the new School of Management Centre, which will greatly enhance student learning," said Malaspina President Rich Johnston. "The Centre will create a professional environment that reflects entrepreneurial spirit and stimulates innovation and creativity."
At a special ceremony at Malaspina’s Nanaimo campus on March 31, local MLA’s Mike Hunter and Judith Reid presented Malaspina with a $7-million cheque from the Province for the design and construction of the estimated 36,000 square foot facility.
Malaspina plans to take out a $2-million loan for its share of the project, to be paid off through net revenues from entrepreneurial activities within the School of Management, sponsorship grants, research grants, and environmental incentives.
Dr. Anne Leavitt, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Management, called the $7-million from the Province "a terrific gift" for Malaspina.
"This will open much needed classroom and research space across the campus," said Leavitt. "The new building is an essential step in the realization of a plan to reconstitute and revitalize management programming at Malaspina in ways that will significantly increase opportunities for both students and industry, and bring added returns to Malaspina’s programs overall."
Construction of the new Centre is slated to begin in the spring 2005, and it is expected to open in late summer 2006. Building 195, which dates back to the Second World War and currently houses the bookstore and recreation and tourism programs, will be demolished to make way for the new facility. The bookstore will move to Malaspina’s renovated $14.2-million Library, which was also co-funded with the Province.
The new School of Management Centre will provide additional classroom space for up to 200 full-time students and allow expansion in international and domestic undergraduate and graduate programming and research. The building will include one lecture theatre, two-tiered classrooms, two flat-floor classrooms and two computer labs. All rooms will be technologically enhanced in order to stimulate a creative business environment.
The Centre will include four seminar/break out rooms for group activities and to support a learning environment that is flexible, experiential, and encourages interaction among students and faculty.
The new building is essential to promote cooperation between faculty on new programming, research and development ventures, said Leavitt. "Currently each and every department in the Management area is located in a separate building," Leavitt said. "The new School of Management will finally provide a common home for our Management programs that will facilitate communication and shared ventures."
The list of activities and new ventures already undertaken by faculty has been amazing, added Leavitt. "Innovative new international partnerships are in the works, plans are underway to develop an Institute to respond more widely to regional management training and research needs, and expansion and reconstitution of various program areas are also well underway," she said.
Leavitt said the plan for a new School of Management was first proposed by Mike Mann, current Chair of the Business Department, a year ago. Leavitt thanked the Malaspina Board and Executive for their support, and the faculty and support staff of Management programs "for their hard work on the design of the new building, their commitment to a new vision of Management programming at Malaspina, and their creative energies."
She also noted the hard work of Bursar Edwin Deas "who has really been the driving force behind the building. If he hadn't made this such a priority and taken such responsibility for it, the building would have remained but a gleam in the eyes of a few people," Leavitt said.
Tags: In the Community
