See inside: CBU opens satellite campus in Crosstown

Elle Perry
Memphis Business Journal

CBU's new satellite campus can be modified to host anything from a poetry slam to a robotics engineering lab.

Tonight, Christian Brothers University (CBU) will formally open its new 4,000-square-foot facility in Crosstown Concourse.

The anchor program for the space is CBU's new Master of Business Administration in Healthcare; in the future, courses in the college's engineering management and computer information systems programs may also be taught there.

Pluses for CBU are the space's proximity to its business partners and the opportunity for team-based curriculum, according to Paul Haught, CBU's vice president for Academics and Student Life.

"We've got a chemistry faculty member who teaches 'Chemistry in Cooking,'" Haught said. "He's looking at having a class and working with [Crosstown founding tenant] Church Health Center."

The space is flexible in that it includes a traditional classroom area with enough room for 60 to 70 students or it can be divided with an airwall partition. It also includes moveable, modular furniture; walls that can be written on, tackboards and a large kitchen.

Haught said Stanford University's "d.school" inspired CBU's Crosstown campus. Also known as The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford's d.school is that university's "hub for innovation, collaboration and creativity." Likewise, CBU's new space was "designed for collaboration, team working, and team building," according to Haught.

Archimania served as the project architect; Grinder, Taber & Grinder served as the general contractor.

When asked his favorite thing about the new campus, Haught said: "Just the feel of Crosstown Concourse and to be a part of the transformation of the Sears building to this economic hub for the city."