Business Week to kick off with Gerdin Business Building expansion celebration

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The opening of the Gerdin Business Building expansion was celebrated Nov. 9.

Audrey Holtkamp

The Ivy College of Business will host an open house style event in the newly renovated Gerdin Business Building on Monday. Students can arrive at any time between 1 and 4 p.m. to receive a tour of the 45,000 square-foot expansion of the building.

Between 2 and 4 p.m., coffee, hot chocolate and ISU Creamery ice cream will be available to attendees. Students of the Ivy College of Business can also enter a raffle for a $50 gift card to the ISU Book Store.

Before the open house event, there will be an opportunity for business students to get a professional portrait taken from 12 to 2 p.m.

The event will be the first of many for Business Week, a weeklong event for students and faculty in the Ivy College of Business. Tuesday will be Student Appreciation Day, when students can stop by Kingland Hub from 10 a.m. to noon for a free Thelma’s ice cream sandwich. On Wednesday, Miriam H. Lewis of Principal Financial will give a presentation about diversity and inclusion from 5 to 6 p.m. The final event will be Stress Relief Thursday, where students can stop by Kingland Hub from 10 a.m to noon for snacks, fun activities and prize drawings for Ivy socks and hats.

Suzanne Lyndon, event planner for the Ivy College of Business and chairwoman of the Business Week committee, said there were many new considerations taken for planning the week because of COVID-19 and the timing of the construction of Gerdin Business Building.

“Normally the week is in September, but we moved it to November this year because we wanted it to be celebrated in conjunction with the opening of the new expansion,” Lyndon said.

The Gerdin Building expansion event will have contactless delivery of food and beverages, and the event speaker, Miriam H. Lewis, will be virtual Thursday.

“We scaled back on some of our events that would bring hundreds and hundreds of people together at once or crowd our hallways,” Lyndon said.

Although Business Week was planned for business students and staff, anyone who is interested in the Ivy College of Business is welcome to tour the Gerdin Business Building at the event Monday.

“[Business Week is] a way to celebrate the college and share what we have to offer,” Lyndon said.