Ribbon-cutting ceremony for School of Business

IvyLee Rosario – News Writer –

Friday Sept. 21 marked a great day for Southern as a university, said James Blake, executive vice president, as the new School of Business had its ribbon cutting ceremony to officially become part of the Southern campus.

“It was a beautiful day and we couldn’t ask for better weather. The building was beautifully designed and having this new building makes Southern a first class part of the community,” said Blake.

The new School of Business construction had been on the drawing board for a number of years but with problems in funding leading to only half the amount of money needed for the construction to take place, the new building was put on the back-burner until spring of last year when the rest of the money was funded and plans for a new building could begin.

“I have been at Southern for two years now and when I got here I started a listening campaign to see what some of the biggest problems on campus were,” said the Dean of the new School of Business, Ellen Durnin.

“After talking to faculty and students, we knew that getting everyone out of the old business building Seabury Hall, had to be done. That went on the bond commission agenda, and became my first order of business.”

Seabury Hall was the previously used building for business majors but lacked accessibility and convenience when it came to its old features.

The building has four floors, but without an elevator is not handicap accessible. There is no meeting space, no class space, and no technology space available for students to use. It was more than time to move.

“Seabury Hall was an old dilapidated space that had no use. It wasn’t up-to-date and had no use for what students need now in a building,” said Patrick Dilger, Director of Public Affairs.

“It was time to get them out of there and into a nicer building that will be useful to their studies.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony had a variety of speakers present including Southern’s President Mary Papazian, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, President of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Anthony Rescigno, and Dean of the School of Business Ellen Durnin.

The new School of Business building cost $6.6 million to build and design. It has three floors and is a total of 20,000 square feet. The building is made of brick and glass and is home to offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, and technology labs.

“The middle floor is made up of the offices for the department chairs and administration like my office, the top floor is where all the faculty offices are located, and then the bottom floor is the student oriented floor,” said Durnin.

“They have technology labs down there, presentation rooms for groups to meet, and all the classrooms.”

The School of Business construction was finalized this summer and has been in full use since the start of the school year in August.

“We typically do this ribbon cutting ceremony each time we have a new building. It’s a way of welcoming in the community as well as the alumni, faculty and especially the students who will be using the building,” said Dilger.

The new School of Business is a building that brought on much excitement to both faculty and students and will be used to its full capability.

“I was so excited to know they were building a new business school. I was sick of walking all the way to Seabury Hall and that building was just too old to keep using,” said Hillary Wheeler, a junior accounting major.

“I’m glad they finally got the opportunity to build a new one, it’s so much nicer to be in.”