Students say building will help &8216;sell&8217; Alcorn

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 6, 2006

NATCHEZ &8212; This time last year students at Alcorn&8217;s MBA program were in school but not at school.

They had professors, textbooks, homework and tests, but they didn&8217;t have a place to call their own. Now that&8217;s changed.

&8220;Now, to me, it&8217;s a school,&8221; third-semester student Jesse Abbott said.

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Wyoming native Abbott has been an ASU MBA student with the new Natchez-campus building and without.

&8220;Before we were sharing the nursing building, and the classes were smaller,&8221; he said. &8220;In education it doesn&8217;t matter where you are, but here, this building is so nice.&8221;

The students have access to computer labs, study rooms, and wireless Internet. Spacious hallways lead to classrooms with Internet hookups, and more room. And plush lecture halls are ready to accommodate crowds.

&8220;There&8217;s endless opportunities there,&8221; student Patrice Washington said. &8220;Any help or anything you need, you don&8217;t have to leave the building.&8221;

Abbott said he was excited about the undergraduate business students the building would bring, and already has brought, to it.

&8220;I&8217;ve seen a huge change in this building,&8221; he said. &8220;Opening this building brought a ton of undergraduates to campus. Now everyone gets the chance to interact with more people.&8221;

Beverly Adams, an MBA graduate who works in the Lorman campus business office, just missed taking advantage of the MBA building by graduating before it was completed.

&8220;I was thinking I&8217;d be in there my last semester, I was hoping,&8221; she said. &8220;But I&8217;m so proud that it&8217;s there now.

&8220;It really promotes the university and shows progress and shows the university is serious about higher education and serious about making it better all the way around.&8221;

Student Seth Assink, from Brookhaven, said the building will help with recruitment.

&8220;It&8217;ll attract,&8221; he said. &8220;Nice facilities, (MBA&8217;s) own. It will bring in undergraduate classes, just having your own business building. It&8217;s our building. It&8217;s the business building.&8221;

Combined with the educational aspect, Washington said the building completes the sell. &8220;Really for me, I&8217;m more impressed with the faculty that I am the building,&8221; she said. &8220;But the building does help a little. For someone to come and see the building and talk with any one of the professors, they are sold. The building and the professors together is a win-win. If you come you are going to love it.&8221;