Contact: Maridith Geuder
In ceremonies Friday [Oct. 8] at Mississippi State, university officials, students, alumni, and friends will break ground for a new addition to the 29-year-old building that houses the College of Business and Industry.
The 4 p.m. ceremony on the south side of McCool Hall officially launches a major expansion and renovation involving additional classrooms, conference rooms, faculty offices, and "team rooms" for student projects, among others. Private contributions are funding the enhancements.
"Additional space and facilities are a key element to the college's strategic plan, and a new facility will provide the environment for an outstanding College of Business and Industry for the 21st century," said Dean Sara Freedman. "The new complex is essential to enhancing our outstanding academic programs, research and outreach."
Organized in 1915 and one of the oldest in the South, the college and its School of Accountancy has a current enrollment of 2,500. The major academic unit has occupied McCool Hall since alumnus E.B. "Dutch" McCool, a founder of the Holiday Inn motel chain, provided money in the early 1970s to match funds approved by the Mississippi Legislature.
The College of Business and Industry is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Of more than 1,300 collegiate business programs in the United States, only about 400 hold the highly selective AACSB designation.
For more information about the Friday ceremony, telephone Dean Freedman at (662) 325-2580.