Wake Forest Charlotte Center Featured in Charlotte Observer Article

Business school plans move | by Hope Yancey

Reposted from Charlotte Observer

Dr. Yvonne Hinson was named earlier this year as dean of the Charlotte campus of the Wake Forest University Schools of Business, in the Morrocroft Centre in SouthPark.

Now, the school is planning it’s next move.

In January 2012, Wake Forest University Charlotte Center will open in a portion of the former International Trade Center on North College Street, occupying space about double the size of what the school now has. Renovations are needed.

Community groups will be able to rent parts of the facility for events. Hinson, 48, holds a doctorate in accounting and has held other roles at Wake Forest’s Winston-Salem campus. She says the new site offers visibility and access to speakers.

Hinson recently spread out blueprints of the building, describing the state-of-the-art boardroom, sunlit atrium, catering kitchen, classrooms and study rooms. Interactive learning labs are an important feature, she said. Group work will take place there. In fact, group work is an integral part of business school.

The study teams, many of which last throughout graduate school, form when students start their programs. Studying and conducting case analyses with classmates provides heightened sensitivity to working with others, and students learn from each other, Hinson says. The approach, she says, makes sense, since it replicates the business world, where team environments are common.

Two Master of Business Administration programs geared to working professionals, a Saturday program and an evening program, have been located in Charlotte at the SouthPark campus.

Wake Forest is putting its two current programs in uptown Charlotte but is also looking to expand, possibly by offering open enrollment programs, certificates or continuing education classes. The school intends to weigh the city’s needs in developing future offerings, not all of which may be business programs. “We’ve got the full Wake Forest University behind us,” said Hinson. Partnerships with other universities are also under consideration.

Hinson says she sees potential for bringing more of the Wake Forest culture to Charlotte. The university wants to participate in community life.

“If it’s important to Charlotte, and it can help drive Charlotte forward, Wake Forest wants to be involved,” Hinson said.