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ASU officials discuss future Delta CenterJune 02, 2008 - ASU officials discuss future Delta Center
By Sherry F. Pruitt
JONESBORO — “Integrator” is perhaps the best single word to describe the new Delta Center for Economic Development scheduled to be constructed on the Arkansas State University campus, the dean of the College of Education said.
University officials held a groundbreaking ceremony May 27 for the college bond-and grant-funded facility, which will be featured as the front of the entire business complex. Alan McVey is the Delta Center director.
The center will house existing outreach programs and activities directly related to the College of Business, which now are located on and off campus. The center will combine them into a central, campus location, Dr. Len Frey, dean of the College of Business, said.
“All parts of the center exist, but in different places,” he said Monday morning.
For Northeast Arkansas, the new center will be a showplace and meeting place for business and industry leaders. Using conference, lecture or training space at the center will allow Northeast Arkansas business leaders to demonstrate the link between the Jonesboro institution of higher education and a state-of-the art facility, Frey said.
“We envision this facility conference room as being a location that industrial recruiters might choose to use when bringing prospective clients to Northeast Arkansas, Jonesboro, Paragould and other cities in a 50-mile-plus radius,” he said. “We’re ready and able to assist recruiting efforts throughout Northeast Arkansas.”
The new Delta Center will be constructed near the southeast corner of the Aggie Road-University Loop West intersection.
The second floor will house the regional and community development arm of the college’s outreach initiatives, Frey said.
The training and development initiative is housed at the Jonesboro Industrial Park, but it will relocate to the ASU campus. However, a site will be maintained at the park because that’s where the business incubator is.
The Small Business Development Center is housed in the Business Building but will be moved into the new structure, Frey noted.
“Those are the three primary activities on the second floor of the new center for economic development,” he said.
A number of academic outreach activities are expected to maintain academic offices in the Business Building but hold functions in the new facility.
“The activities will be coordinated out of the new building,” he said.
For example, the chairmen of McAdams-Frierson Bank and Transportation and Management, as well as some economic development outreach activities, will be held at the Delta Center.
Housing the activities under the same roof will allow the College of Business community to interact better than with the existing layout, Frey said.
Conference room slated
Also on the second floor, an executive conference room may be used for private meetings associated with industrial recruitment and economic development.
“The building allows us to integrate — our students and faculty — with the staff of the Delta Center,” he said.
The first floor will include a 94-seat auditorium, and classrooms of varying sizes. Two of the multi-purpose classrooms will seat about 60 students, while the third will seat 35.
The classrooms can also be used as training rooms for the Delta center and the SBDC.
“Plus, we can provide an outstanding venue to teach master of business administration classes,” he said. “It’s important because it gives MBA students a corporate setting — what it’s like to operate in a corporate environment.”
The new building addition to the ASU business complex will provide a “whole new look. As you come over the overpass, down to grade, it will be the first building you see as you turn back toward Aggie Road. You will see green space through the center of the campus,” the dean said. “It will give a more professional and updated look to the College of Business and outreach activities.”
The new structure will mean to the ASU community “enhanced working relationships” between the Delta center staff and the College of Business faculty, staff and students and other campus entities engaged in economic development and outreach.
“For example, we work closely with Arkansas Biosciences Institute. This will further solidify that relationship and the new ventures that ABI is spawning,” Frey said.
sherry@jonesborosun.com
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