Universal Information Services

She’s tall, attractive, and above all else, she’s smart. No I’m not talking about the women of your dreams, I’m talking about The University of Nebraska – Lincoln’s new College of Business, Howard L. Hawks Hall in Lincoln, NE. The 240,000 square foot state of the art building in nearly double the size of the old College of Business Administration and is packed with the best technology to give students, like me, an edge over other students.

I have the joy of taking classes in the new building and it is quite the upgrade from the very dated former building. Appropriately, it is an easy walk from anywhere at the university, positioned right in the middle of city campus beautifully welcoming all business students. But what is brawn without the brain?

As a college student, one of the biggest challenges is finding a class schedule that fits both in terms of classes needed for a major and classes that fit together in terms of hours of the day. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the in depth lecture or classroom setting for an online class, which isn’t always a bad thing. But now with the new building, every room has a camera to record your professors’ lectures and a student can replay them online. This breaks down a barrier between the physical hurdle of class timing because you can see the same lecture your professor gives that same day. You get the same content, served up in a variety of modes.

Another major plus to the new College of Business building is the upgraded internet speeds in the building. In the old building I would notice a slight lag in coverage when you had classes in the basement. Now, the new network offers 80 Mbps up and 60 Mbps down, which speeds the learning process and eliminates those awkward moments when your professor has to attempt a joke while they wait for the website buffer. As you know, in humor timing is everything and buffering kills that timing.

By far my favorite feature of the new building has to be the mock trading floor complete with a stock market ticker and Bloomberg terminals. These features, even though they are only available through a 400 level class, could be one of the most useful tools to finance majors like myself. For example, this summer I interned at a real estate financing and investment firm. Here I learned an astonishing amount of information, in only 2.5 months, and it opened my eyes to the power of a hands on experience. Upgrading the tools we have access to, before you rely on us to make, move, or invest your money, is critical to this mission. Universities that invest in my future… that invest in every student’s future, are truly investing in everyone’s future.

Basically, when the next generation of professionals emerges onto the workforce, you are going to want us to be informed, trained, ethical, and above all, productive.Whether it’s the trading floor or the new technology in the new College of Business is the coolest thing to happen to the University of Nebraska in awhile. Buildings like this are important for all of us, business student or not.

This has been another post by Teddy Murphy. I’m keeping my eye on what’s next.