Reopening of Grawn Hall celebrated with ribbon-cutting
It took 542 donors, $10.8 million and two years, but the newly-renovated Grawn Hall is officially open for business.
Central Michigan University's College of Business Administration hosted a ribbon cutting event Thursday, Sept. 21 to showcase improvements to Grawn Hall in front of the donors that helped make it possible.
More than 16,000-square-foot of the historic building was refurbished during the renovation, including a new atrium where the event was held.
At the event, Dean of CBA Charles Crespy discussed how beneficial the new renovations to Grawn Hall will be to students and the college as a whole.
“We have transformed Grawn Hall, and the activities that will take place in this space will truly help transform aspiring high school students into business professionals,” Crespy said.
Along with being a more pleasant environment for students, the updated Grawn Hall also gives the CBA the ability to host events in the building, something Crespy was happy about. The CBA had already hosted two major events in the atrium space at the time of the reopening ceremony, with a data analytics conference with more than 220 people in attendance held the day after on Sept. 22.
President George Ross also spoke at the ribbon-cutting, touching on the many ways in which the updates to Grawn will make life better for students.
“This is truly one of the most innovative learning environments on our campus,” Ross said. “Because of the vision and leadership which led to the renovation of more than 16,000-square-feet and added this grand atrium space, every day 4,000 students have a home base that’s comfortable and welcoming.”
Throughout the event, it was emphasized none of these renovations would have been possible without the support of the donors in attendance. One of these donors was Ron Beebe, a business owner and 1971 alumnus with a degree in accounting.
Beebe was happy to finally see the refurbished Grawn Hall and discussed how the new additions to the building will make life more convenient for students.
Beebe also praised Granger Construction, the company responsible for remodeling the facility.
"Before, students had to go to the library or somewhere else to study, now they can study here,” Beebe said. “It’s fantastic. Granger did a wonderful job. This is the future of business at CMU.”
