David B. Miller Business Quadrangle Dedicated
Dallas (SMU) May 3, 2024 – A crowd of about 700 people—donors, alumni, students, faculty and staff—gathered in the Armstrong Field House this morning to celebrate the dedication of the David B. Miller Business Quadrangle. After a week of on-again, off-again rain, the University moved the ceremony indoors, although the construction fence in front the Quadrangle was removed for part of the day to give visitors a sneak peek.
Ground was broken on the $140 million project renovation and expansion project in May 2022. Today’s ceremony was held immediately following the final SMU Board of Trustees meeting of the 2023-2024 academic year. The new facility expands the Cox School footprint by 32% and benefits from input by corporate partners, donors, students, faculty, staff and leaders. It also reflects best practices from leading business schools across the country who have moved away from the older teaching spaces designed simply for lectures and tests.
Dean Myers said the new Miller Business Quadrangle is part of an upward trajectory for the Cox School and the University. “SMU and Cox play a big part in the North Texas economy, and we’re proud of that,” he said. “From this moment forward, though, we are a global player. You’ve heard me say it before because it's true: you can’t have a world-class city without a world-class business school and you can’t have a world-class business school without investment in world-class faculty, world-class students, and world-class facilities. The future of Dallas, SMU, and the Cox School are inextricably linked and let there be no doubt that together, there are no boundaries to our future.”
SMU President R. Gerald Turner explained that the Miller Business Quadrangle is one of the first major projects of the $1.5 billion SMU Ignited: Boldly Shaping Tomorrow campaign, which will continue through 2028. President Turner and Dean Myers thanked the more than 300 donors who have contributed to the Cox renovation and project. Both noted that Carolyn Miller and SMU Board of Trustees Chair David B. Miller, ‘BBA ‘72, MBA ’73, built momentum for the project and the campaign with a $50 million gift in 2019 that made them the lead donors. Miller said he’s asked frequently what motivated him: “My answer, very simply, is that it felt like the right and good thing to do.”
Final touches are continuing on the interior of the new facilities. Faculty and staff will begin moving in mid-summer, with the building open for the start of classes in August.
