Students on the University of North Georgia's Dahlonega campus now have access to the state-of-the-art Cottrell Center for Business, Technology and Innovation.
The nearly 90,000-square-foot, four-story facility, is the new home for the Mike Cottrell College of Business. It was partially funded with a $10 million gift from Mike and Lynn Cottrell, along with about $21.8 million in state funding.
The building features five specialty computer labs for logistics, finance and data analytics, cyber range, cybersecurity and forensic and networking and hardware. Additionally, the building has 10 classrooms.
"We have had the best time planning this building because we really wanted a space that would be welcoming for students and would represent what the best of business is," Mary Gowan, dean of the Mike Cottrell College of Business, said. "We want our students to be in an environment where they're going to feel like they're in some of the same kind of workspace they'll have when they start their careers."
The building was designed to be "light and bright," according to Gowan, with a large number of windows spread throughout offices, hallways and classrooms.
"It just feels so different than the spaces we were in before," Gowan said. "It has been very transformative for everyone. I think morale is good. It just feels like home to people already."
UNG students were also excited about the opportunities sparked by the new facility. Erin Whatley, a senior accounting student at UNG, said she appreciated having a dedicated space for her major.
"I think it sort of gives business majors a place of our own," Whatley said. "Prior, we were sharing with education majors, math and English. And while that was fine, it gives us a place where we're all sort of in the same classes, in the same building."
Likewise, Savanna Smith, a senior marketing major at UNG, said the collaborative spaces and study spaces spread throughout the building will be a huge help.
"I just love the little study booths and the little tables," Smith said. "I always enjoyed studying at the library because I thought the booth-style setting was so fun ... but I like how the whole building is set up like that."
And for Houstoun Hall, a senior studying cybersecurity and computer science, the building was everything he asked for.
"We have gotten ... the cyber range down on the first floor, that has included its own server rack area so that we can actually use our own equipment, and run our own competitions on site," Hall said. "We have actual classrooms assigned to cybersecurity, that is very much a new thing for us."
