Various people from the community and university gathered for the official opening of the James M. Collins Executive Education Center on campus last Friday.
Guests were seated under a tent outside the building on Binkley Ave, and listened to a host of speakers from the university.
Lunch was served, immediately following, inside the state-of-the-art center and tours were given to all of the visitors.
Members of the area business community, faculty from the university and a number of students were in attendance.
“I enjoyed getting to see the new building,” first-year business major Davis Stitt said. “I had no idea how important this facility is to the business community.”
The opening ceremony began with a welcome and invocation from Brad Cheves, Vice President for Development and External Affairs.
President R. Gerald Turner then gave a brief speech, followed by Gerald J. Ford, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Robert L. Blocker, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs also spoke, as well as the Dr. Albert W. Niemi, Jr., Dean of the Cox School of Business, and Dee Collins Torbet was present on behalf of the Collins family.
The official ribbon cutting was held before guests entered to tour the facility and eat lunch.
The 67,000-square-foot, $18.7 million center, houses the Cox School’s executive MBA program as well as places for corporate meetings or retreats.
The building includes several classrooms, 14 seminar rooms, a 24-seat boardroom and a conference room. In addition, there is a 300-seat auditorium, a dining room, an outdoor plaza and a rooftop terrace.
The facility is also home to the Southwest Graduate School of Banking, as well as a place for continuing executive education programs.
These programs consist of a two-day sales and marketing seminar, a 21-week graduate marketing certificate program and a nine-week management and leadership program.
Although many corporate and private donors helped fund the new executive center, it is dedicated to the memory and achievements of James Collins. Congressman Collins was a 1937 graduate of SMU, served as vice president of the student body, president of the SMU Alumni Association and was a member of the SMU Board of Trustees.
Mr. Collins also served in the U.S. House of Representative for eight terms, and received SMU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1971.
The executive education center already has a number of events planned for the fall and spring.
During Parent’s Weekend on Sept. 23, the center will have presentations by the Cox School faculty and a tour of the facility for any visitors beginning at 3 p.m.
