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.
NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1
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