The verdict is in.
Just one week after classes began in Correll Hall, the new facility for the Terry College and the first phase of its still-in-production Business Learning Community, everyone already has an opinion about it.
“It’s really nice,” said Anushka Panday, a fourth-year marketing and MIS double major from Alpharetta. “The technology is great — our professor can see what he’s presenting without having to turn around. Everything seems like it made specifically for a learning and teaching environment.”
Panday is not alone. The 74,000 square-foot building on North Campus is changing UGA life for students and faculty. From its state-of-the-art classrooms and interactive study rooms to the new business lab and graduate commons, Correll Hall has become a symbol for the changing face of business education at UGA.
“It’s fun to be a part of something new like that — and there are so many Terry students, so you feel that,” said Simy Carvalho, a marketing major from Alpharetta. “I like it for group work. You can plug your computer into the TVs in the group study areas, and since every one of my marketing classes has group work, it feels really conducive to that experience.”
For faculty members, who have spent more time in the college’s older buildings, the change is even more pronounced.
“Correll Hall has all the latest technology to promote teaching and learning. The classrooms are bright and open. They also are designed to allow professors to interact easily with the students,” said David Mustard, a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of economics who teaches in Correll.
The newer classrooms mean less hassle to fit new technology into old buildings, which leads to a more seamless teaching experience, said Nik Nikolov, a Terry doctoral student who teaches marketing classes in Correll.
“It’s a major upgrade over what we’ve had so far in Terry in terms of classroom space,” Nikolov said. “It makes for a better student experience with multiple screens, cameras, premium sound options and a layout that is conducive to closer interactions between students as well as discussions.”
Subtle things, like the more open classroom layout, also affect the student experience. With comfortable seats and an intuitive design, it’s easier to focus on learning, said Kendreya Skinner, a third-year student majoring in risk management from Richland, WA.
“I like that the class sizes are smaller — it just feels better to be in there,” she said. “The seats are a lot nicer than the desks in a lot of other buildings. It makes me actually willing to turn around and interact with the people around me. I’ve told all my friends to go and look at it and check it out.”