The groundbreaking ceremony for the newest expansion on SVSU’s campus, the Scott L. Carmona School of Business, took place outside the entrance to Groening Commons on Monday, Oct. 22.
Students, faculty, staff and community members came together to hear from Scott Carmona, President Don Bachand and members of SVSU’s Board of Control.
The expansion is projected to be finished in January 2020. The building will have offices, classrooms and new high-tech student resources.
Bachand anticipates the new amenities offered by the expansion will benefit students and bolster engagement with local Saginaw businesses. The expansion is the centerpiece of SVSU’s longstanding collaboration with the Stevens Center for Family Business.
“We’re going to equip our students with facilities that are needed for learning how to solve real problems in today’s business world,” Bachand said. “The new amenities are specifically designed to replicate the modern-day workplace. It will greatly help
our students, which is what I care most about.”
Carmona, an alumnus and member of the Board of Control, said he was honored and humbled to have his name on the building. He believes the Bloomberg trading rooms and simulations will provide students with a competitive advantage, allowing them to work and study at the same time. The students’ experience with these resources would aid in the transition from college to the workplace, Carmona said.
“I’m glad that our family is doing this for the university, and for the opportunities that future students will be able to have,” Carmona said.
Anthony Bowrin, the dean of the College of Business and Management, believes the new resources will equip and engage students in non-traditional ways. The new educational model in the updated classrooms will be more focused on developing skills like leadership and problem solving to complement the technical skills already part of the business and management curriculum, Bowrin said.
“One of the key aspects of the building expansion is making sure that all of the classroom spaces are flexible,” Bowrin said. “This will allow the professor to lecture, students to roleplay and participate in brainstorming, all within the exact same environment. Then we come back together, we experiment, so students can behave as if they are in the real business world.”
Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs Linda Sims agreed that the expansion would help build students’ practical knowledge.
“This is an opportunity to connect students and faculty with the business community so that our students can get the real-world experience they need to be successful,” Sims said.
