Eager for Business

By John Helsley

Derion Bailey’s timing wasn’t right. Not yet, anyway.

Bailey, a December business management graduate with a job already secured, leaves Oklahoma State just as the new building is being prepared for its grand opening.

Still, she shares in the excitement and recognizes what it will mean to have such a state-of-the-art structure soon in place.

“It’s beautiful,” Bailey says. “It looks like there’s going to be great resources and technology that goes with it. I’m kind of sad that I don’t get to be in it and use those classrooms and those resources, but I’m fully happy for the undergrads and everyone else to use it, because I know it will be really beneficial to their careers and education.”

Years in the making, from the planning and the designing to the fundraising, the new building is rich with features.

The personal experience figures to be rich, too.

“The building isn’t about the bricks and mortar, it’s about what happens inside,” says Diane Crane, Senior Director of Development and team lead for Spears Business at the OSU Foundation. “It’s part of the reason we wanted a facility that was big enough to house the entire business school.

“When alumni can tell their stories – about the start of their career, mistakes that they’ve made, how they’ve recovered from those mistakes, how they’ve gone on to great success – that inspires our students.”

The new building should be a major draw for students, present and future.

“I think the new building is an exciting piece for me as a recruiter here at the Spears Business,” says Shannon Ramsey, assistant director for prospective students in the Business Student Success Center, “because I can share it with prospective students and their families. They’re really excited about the new facilities.”

Past students, too, it seems.

“Grad school is always around the corner,” Bailey says. “We’ll see where my career leads me!”