Posted on July 16: Business addition nears completion

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BY Julia Thomson

July 16, 2002

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/AICWing__1.JPG” caption=”AIC wing”]

Already considered one of the Top 100 business schools in the world by Financial Times, the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business will strengthen its position when it opens its new addition this fall.

Constructed on the southwest corner of the Michael G. DeGroote building, the AIC wing adds three floors, 19 new offices, 17,000 square feet, and a plethora of state-of-the-art equipment to the University.

The addition includes space for the school, the University, and outside organizations. With demand for classroom space on the rise, the new wing offers high-tech classroom space that can be used by both the School of Business and other departments throughout the University. Other rooms offer a facility for testing new software, research centres, and focus group areas. As well, an expanded academic programs office, along with external relations, and faculty will be located in the new space.

Specialized facilities include the AIC Institute for Strategic Business Studies, which is a location for a chaired professor, two industry professors, and support staff, a 25-seat “Decision Centre” with display monitors below desk level, which can be used as a classroom or for focus group research, a PhD area, which offers office spaces for 35 candidates and dedicated computer facilities for PhD activities.

Each classroom includes special state-of-the-art equipment, ranging from video data projection and sound systems to computer connections. Bob Hodgson, building committee chair and director of external relations for the School of Business highlights the new 54-seat e-business classroom as an example of the advanced nature of the new facilities: “The e-business classroom has state-of-the-art, top-notch computers installed at every station. This is an essential aspect of the McMaster e-Business Research Centre (MeRC), which will also be located in the AIC Wing.”

The new $4.45-million facility was funded through the School of Business ($2.1 million), SuperBuild ($819,300), the Vice-President of Administration's Office ($30,000), and AIC ($1.5 million). AIC donated a total of $5 million to the School of Business, most of which went towards the AIC Institute for Strategic Business Studies.

Concludes Hodgson, “The AIC Wing is a great new addition to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. The new facilities and the unique programs that will be housed here will help keep us in the front ranks of business schools.”