Marquette’s newest academic facility opened the doors to its very first residents this morning, as several faculty and staff this week move into Dr. E. J. and Margaret O’Brien Hall, the new home for Marquette Business and leadership innovation programs, located at the corner of 16th Street and Wisconsin Avenue.
A $60 million, 100,000 square-foot facility and the largest fully donor-funded construction project in university history, O’Brien Hall has been built for the future with maximum flexibility and state-of-the-art, globally connective technology, anchoring the west gateway to campus.
About 10 Marquette Business faculty and staff members, including Executive Associate Dean Dr. David Clark and other members of the college’s leadership team, began moving from Straz Hall to O’Brien Hall’s second-floor dean’s suite and fourth-floor department chairs and executive education suites.
“O’Brien Hall welcoming its first occupants is another exciting milestone for this landmark project,” said Tim Hanley, acting Keyes Dean of Business Administration. “The new home for Marquette Business and innovation leadership programs has since its earliest concepts promised to be a hub of innovative, collaborative spaces where students, faculty, staff and the business community will interact in meaningful ways. This building has always been about people — today, I’m pleased to say the people have arrived.”
O’Brien Hall, which features an open atrium, collaborative classrooms, lab and study spaces, as well as an event space for the Milwaukee business community, also includes a café, areas for programmatic centers of excellence, including an EMBA Center, and faculty offices. The facility’s first floor is designed to provide wraparound student support, including centralized advising with a Student Success Center and a Business Career Center.
The building also houses innovation leadership programs, and its proximity to Marquette’s Opus College of Engineering offers opportunities to pair faculty experts and students within the two academic disciplines.
Marquette Business graduates students who have the knowledge to succeed, the principles to lead and the confidence to connect what’s good for business with what’s good for people. The college is ranked 108th among U.S. News and World Report’s Best Undergraduate Business Schools, and its specialty programs in accounting, finance, real estate and supply chain management are all ranked in the top 25 nationally. Marquette Business is home to six Centers of Excellence across a variety of exciting disciplines — each offers students unique applied learning opportunities, including meaningful interaction with industry, networking, case competitions and service.
All remaining Marquette Business faculty and staff will move into O’Brien Hall from Wednesday, Dec. 14, through Wednesday, Dec. 21. Classes will be held in O’Brien Hall starting at the beginning of the spring 2023 semester.
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