New College Of Business Building To Open Next Week

When managers at AirTran Airways needed to improve efficiency and effectiveness in passenger boarding strategies, ground equipment use, and employee distribution, they turned to the College of Business at the Daytona Beach, FL campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Since 2005, College of Business faculty and students working in the Aviation Operations Simulation Laboratory have used advanced technology and teaching methods to identify best business practices for airlines and airports. Currently under development are simulation and optimization models for boarding the Airbus A380 and the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

"Healthy, efficient, and sustainable aviation and aerospace industries are vital to meeting the needs of people throughout the area and the world," said Dr. Daniel Petree, dean of the College of Business. "Providing a place where scholars, industry leaders, and other stakeholders can focus on bringing state-of-the-art business, management, and economic theories and tools to bear on real-world problems represents a very real asset to the community and the wider world."

Embry-Riddle’s research capability will expand next week when the new College of Business building officially opens.

"Our new home represents a tangible sign of the university’s continuing commitment to enhancing the research and cutting-edge learning technologies that the aviation and aerospace industries tell us they need as they meet the complex challenges of an increasingly dynamic global economy," said Dr. Petree, who observed that this will be the first time that the entire College of Business will be housed together.

The grand opening of Embry-Riddle’s newest academic hall will be held Thursday, January 31, at 5:00 pm. The event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony and brief remarks by Dr. John P. Johnson, Embry-Riddle president; Dr. Thomas Connolly, chancellor of the Daytona Beach campus; Dr. Daniel Petree; Glenn Ritchey, Embry-Riddle trustee and mayor of Daytona Beach; and Rick Hale, chairman of the College of Business Industry Advisory Board and president/CEO of Winner Aviation Corp. Refreshments and tours will follow the ceremony.

The two-story building contains faculty and administrative offices; wireless, energy-efficient classrooms; seminar and conference rooms; computer labs with 90 workstations; graduate research facilities; a Business and Transportation Research Center that includes the Aviation Operations Simulation Lab; a Marketing Focus Group Suite; and a Collaborative Decision-Making Suite. The building also houses Information Technology offices and workspace.

The College of Business offers a nationally accredited Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with majors in air transport management and general management along with an MBA available in a full-time residential format as well as a technology-mediated format.

The new building, which cost $13 million and measures 54,225 square feet, is part of an investment of $125 million in new and planned construction at the Daytona Beach campus. Future projects include additions to the aviation complex, a university/campus administration building, and a headquarters building for the worldwide division. A residence hall and a fitness center were completed in 2007.

FMI: www.embryriddle.edu