State legislators tour new WVU Business & Economics building

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – Today state legislators had the opportunity to tour West Virginia University’s newest building.

5′s John Blashke has the story.

Dozens of legislators got to see firsthand what the future holds for business and economics at WVU.

Reynolds Hall now stands where Stansbury Hall once was.

The state-of-the-art business and economics building will be ready to host classes for 3,500 students this fall, but Dean Josh Hall is hoping this new building will attract even more.

“One of our major contributions to our land grant mission is training the next generation of talent to move this state forward and the more people we bring up to those problems with the state the better off we’re going to be so bigger and better,” said Hall.

State Delegate Joey Garcia out of Marion County’s 50th district is also a WVU grad.

Garcia says this new building will give WVU and the state as a whole a new competitive edge.

“They’re competing with university’s all over the country and we also have lots of businesses here in West Virginia that we want to be able to provide services and employees for and make sure there’s a workforce to make sure that people want to invest and bring jobs to West Virginia,” said Garcia.

The building features immersive technology such as virtual reality which will transport students from the classroom and into unique work environments.

The building was specially designed not only to develop hands-on learning but to promote collaboration of ideas between students.

Hall says the social stairwell and the 50 interview, conference, and study rooms will do just that.

“To me the biggest opportunity of this building is a place to really take what we’re doing in experimental education and engaging with industry and multiply it seven-fold,” said Hall.

Reporting in Morgantown John Blashke 5 news.

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