Business center will be a plus for Minneapolis College, Metro State

Minneapolis College and Metropolitan State University hope the recent renovations for  a combined business school space for students from both schools will improve the campus experience.

The schools held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 22 to mark the renovations to the Management Education Center in downtown Minneapolis. The renovations were funded with $22.5 million from the Minnesota Legislature’s 2023 bonding bill. While Minneapolis College and Metro State previously shared a business building, the addition of classrooms in the Management Education Center will allow students to more easily connect with faculty and staff from both schools. 

“One of our professors used to have his students have a scavenger hunt to find his office in the Management Education Center,” said Jason Cussler, a business instructor at Minneapolis College and community faculty at Metro State. 

“The students never had a reason to come over there. They never had any classes. (Now) our offices are going to be right next to the classrooms that students are taking their classes in. When you have a student (who) might have been hesitant to come visit you in the first place, you’re going to be saying, ‘Hey, well I’m just walking into my office here after class. Why don’t you come and we’ll sit down and chat about this?’”

Cussler added that the building will be beneficial for students in the Business Transfer pathway at Minneapolis College. Those students are able to enter four-year universities, including Metro State, as juniors after completing their second year at Minneapolis College (formerly known as Minneapolis Community & Technical College).. 

“(Being) in the same building and working together with a shared space (with) some shared branding around some things – that’s just gonna make it that much more easy for the student to make the transition to considering a four-year (degree),” Cussler said. 

Carisha Thomas, who attended Minneapolis College and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Metro State, is also excited about the centralization the renovated center provides. Thomas, who also has a degree in marine wildlife and conservation biology, hopes to utilize her business education to develop an eco resort in her home country of Grenada.

“Knowing that you don’t have to go from one place to the next just to get one thing done, it makes it more convenient,” Thomas said. 

The building itself is also outfitted for collaboration and accessible learning, with various “huddle rooms” for students to reserve for different times to collaborate on projects. Screens and high-flex technology in classrooms, huddle rooms and lounge areas allow for students who are off-campus to continue to engage and participate virtually. 

Virtual access is especially valuable for students who may be balancing coursework with other responsibilities, including Thomas, who is a single mother. During this semester, Thomas’s son has been sick a couple of times, which has meant that she had to speak with instructors, including Cussler, about needing time to “figure (things) out.”

“(With high-flex technology), if your kid’s sick and you just need to sit there with them, you can sit and participate in the class while your kid’s resting,” Cussler said of the new setup, which he describes as having a camera follow the instructor around the classroom. 

Other possible student needs were considered in designing the space, said Marcia Hagen Ph.D., a professor at Metro State who was part of a committee that helped to design the renovation. 

“Metropolitan State is a MSI (a minority-serving institution),” Hagen said. “That actually drove some of the thought behind the building itself. We serve adult students, so we were able to do some different things. For example, we put in a meditation room where there wasn’t one previously. We’ve put in a room for nursing mothers who might have to leave class. In a way that wasn’t previously possible, we’re able to fulfill some of these (student) needs that we simply couldn’t in the past.”

The renovation also features a new entrepreneurship center on the fourth floor, a collaborative, open space that is designed to facilitate a variety of connections inside and outside both schools.

“We hope to partner with local entrepreneurs within the community that will mentor students (who are) interested in entrepreneurship (and) that will hire students interested in small businesses,” Cussler said, adding that the faculty also hope that students from different departments are able to engage with business students to seek out advice. 

In renovating the Management Education Center, Hagen said, faculty “really wanted to create a top-notch place for students to come and spend time and grow academically and collaborate with each other and the community.

“For us to be able to do that and in addition, (to) have a more seamless transition for our Minneapolis College to Metro State students is just (the) icing on the cake.”

Related