A new building can be the springboard to new community partnerships and a first-rate innovation, entrepreneurship and franchising program, according to the dean of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Business.
Louis Pol spoke Thursday to the members of Suburban Rotary Club about the college’s new Mammel Hall and the opportunities it will bring to the business college.
The $34 million building, which the college will move into by August, is a “wonderful gift to our university,” Pol said. “So we have an incredible opportunity at hand and are moving forward.”
Pol said the college could draw on strong existing programs, such as the Nebraska Business Development Center, to create an entrepreneurship program that transcends the classroom.
“The bottom line is, you can’t teach entrepreneurship just in the classroom,” Pol said.
“We need to make sure our students have excellent opportunities within the community to be mentored by entrepreneurs, to have entrepreneurial experiences, to have internships and other kinds of exposures to people who are successful and not so successful in the entrepreneurial world.”
The business college will use the new building at 67th and Pine Streets, on UNO’s South Campus, while the college’s former headquarters at Roskens Hall will be refurbished for UNO’s education department, Pol said.
“The excitement about this building isn’t just about the fact that we’re going to have a new home for the College of Business,” Pol said. “It’s really all about opportunities, the future, and the partners that exist just down the street from us.”
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