BANGOR, Maine — Husson University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate the new College of Business building. Harold Alfond Hall is named after the late Harold Alfond, an entrepreneur who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and created the country's first factory outlet store.
The ceremony kicked off with a number of speeches including one from President Robert Clark.
The university said the building was made possible through a $4 million matching gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation. The school also said it is the largest outright gift ever made to Husson.
The five different schools of the College of Business will each have their own “neighborhoods” within the building. The university said this will enhance a sense of identity and purpose within different programs by giving them a place to call their own.
Angelica Hartel, a junior accounting major at Husson, said she's looking forward to studying in this new space. A majority of the business school courses were taken in Peabody Hall in past years.
"I'm taking four classes, and I have only two classes that I have to go to, so I don't have to move so much around campus. It's in one area and everything's just right here," Hartel said.
The roughly $17 million building is also housing what it calls an "I-Ex" Center. It features a virtual and augmented reality lab where students can work on creating technology to help solve real-world business problems.