KNOXVILLE – A grand opening celebration will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009, for the new James A. Haslam II Business Building on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The next day, the building will open for spring semester classes.
As part of the Jan. 6 grand opening, College of Business Administration Dean Jan Williams will host the invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. in the atrium of the new building. Speakers will include UT President John Petersen, UT Knoxville Interim Provost Susan Martin and businessman Jim Haslam, a major UT donor for whom the new building is named.
During the festivities, a three-story ribbon hanging in the atrium will be cut.
Following the ceremony, guests will be invited to tour the building and experience its state-of-the-art technology.
Then, from 4 to 6 p.m., an open house will be held for the UT Knoxville campus community. Free parking for open house guests will be available in the University Center Parking Garage. Passengers can be dropped off at the building’s Volunteer Boulevard entrance.
The new six-floor, 174,000-square-foot building at the corner of Andy Holt Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard houses 34 classrooms; more than 75 offices for faculty, staff and administration; 35 team and presentation rooms; a technology center; an investments learning center; and a spectacular atrium for gatherings of students, faculty, corporate visitors, alumni and friends.
Construction on the building began in November 2005 and the project cost approximately $46 million. It was funded by public and private dollars.
The state-of-the-art building is named after Jim Haslam, founder and chairman of the board of Pilot Travel Centers LLC and chairman of the board and president of Pilot Corp.
An alumnus of the college, Haslam and his family have been generous supporters of the university and the college. Haslam and his wife, Natalie, both 1952 graduates, have donated $7.5 million to the College of Business Administration. The money was part of a $38.2 million gift to UT.
“The College of Business Administration is fast becoming one of the nation’s top public programs, both in undergraduate and graduate education,” Williams said. “And this new building will enable us to take that growth into the future.”
He said the new building is a great example of a public-private partnership.
“During these difficult economic times, private support is essential so that the college can sustain its strong momentum and build upon programs that best prepare our students to compete in a global business world,” he said. “We are grateful to the Haslams for their investment in UT and business education.”
The new building was constructed on the site of the former Glocker Business Administration Building, and the façade of that building was preserved as part of the new structure. The Glocker wing in our new building was named as a tribute to Theodore Wesley Glocker Sr., the first dean of the college.
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Contacts:
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu
Cindy Raines, (865) 974-4359, craines1@utk.edu