When classes resume at UAB on Monday, business students will have a new place to call home.
UAB officials and other local leaders cut the ribbon Friday on a new building for the Collat School of Business. The $37.5 million project represent six years of planning and work according to Dean Eric Jack.
“It is a game changer for us,” says Jack.
The building includes updated technology and flexible space that can accommodate large groups or small breakout sessions. He says there are rooms where employers can interview students, helping them land jobs.
“We no longer have any constraints with regard to facilities, technologies. We’ve got the best,” says Jack.
A plaza in front of the building features a bronze cast of UAB’s mascot “Blaze” by Birmingham artist Branko Medenica. The dragon’s neck rises out of a rectangular column with a claw sticking out of the column’s side.
“I love when people come up and touch the claw,” says Medenica. “Makes it more interactive.”
The Collat School of Business is a program sponsor on WBHM, although the news and business departments operate independently.