MLive: Inside the new Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University
A week before fall classes begin, a major new addition to the Wayne State University campus opened Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Midtown Detroit. The 125,000-square-foot, four-story building neighbors Little Caesars Arena on Woodward Avenue. Students and faculty will join hundreds of new employees working in nearby offices, including Detroit-based Google offices, Olympia Entertainment, 313 Presents and the Detroit Red Wings. "It's going to be a very welcoming place." WSU President M. Roy Wilson said. "I think proximity to the Ilitch organization allows us to focus on sports and entertainment management in a way that would be very difficult for other schools to emulate. There is going to be a great focus on innovation and entrepreneurship at this school, using the inspiration of Mr. Ilitch." WSU professor Tim Butler, who has taught business classes at the school for 32 years, said he looks forward to teaching supply chain management in a new state-of-the-art classroom. "This is a real business school," Butler said. "Here you can have executive education events, and a whole host of events. I think the classrooms really steal the show. There's new technology in all of them. How can you not be thrilled about this?"
