When SMU Cox School of Business classes begin this fall, students will be taking them in a new, dramatically different space. On May 3, 2024, SMU dedicated the new David B. Miller Business Quadrangle, home of the Edwin L. Cox School of Business and the result of a two-year, $140 million project to expand and renovate the school’s facilities.
“The enhancement of the Cox School of Business facilities shows that we’re serious about business education for the long-term future,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner says. “Our commitment not only benefits the Cox School, it also makes a positive impact on the university and especially on North Texas.”
Designed to meet employers’ pressing needs
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.
“The David B. Miller Business Quadrangle will allow SMU Cox to further its goals and scope,” says Elizabeth G. Loboa, SMU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “These new and updated facilities will foster educational excellence and collaboration among students and faculty, allowing Cox to continue to compete with the highest-level business schools in the nation.”
Today, employers want to hire people who understand that collaboration is a critical business skill and who embrace working together to solve problems. To ensure students are prepared, SMU Cox and other leading business schools emphasize experiential learning and team projects that require cooperation.
“We have completely reimagined the way our classrooms work, the sizes of our classrooms and the way our classrooms allow for team building,” says Matthew B. Myers, dean of the Cox School since 2017. “We want to make sure our graduates are ready the first day on the job. They won’t have to learn how to work; they will already know how to work because we’ve taught them inside of the educational arena at Cox.”
The design of the Miller Business Quadrangle shares the feel of corporate campuses where many Cox students will eventually work. State-of-the-art technology throughout and spaces that foster close working relationships enable students to hone their technical and interpersonal skills.
The school’s curriculum works in tandem with the facilities. By the time Cox students graduate, they will have led group projects, presented several times in front of C-suite executives and delivered work to the school’s corporate partners.
Attracting intellectual capital to North Texas
Already, roughly 60% of Cox School undergraduate students come from outside Texas. Once they graduate, nearly 75% choose to stay and establish their careers in Texas. SMU Cox alumni lead companies, influence innovation and corporate policies, start their own businesses, buy homes and establish families — which all have positive economic ripple effects that greatly benefit North Texas.
Expanding the business school facilities creates opportunities to increase applications from out-of-state students. It also helps SMU strengthen connections to corporate partners, which are critical for top business schools. Companies hire students, shape curricula and donate from their foundations — and benefit from faculty research and student work.
“You need all the things that attract not only the best and brightest people but also the types of companies you want as strategic partners,” adds Myers.
SMU Cox expansion by the numbers
- 32% expansion of the school’s footprint
- 60% of undergraduate students come from outside Texas
- 75% of graduates stay in Texas for the next chapter of their careers
- $140 million invested in the two-year facilities project
- 300+ donors toward the project
Supported by donors
Carolyn Miller and David B. Miller, co-founder of EnCap Investments LP and SMU Board of Trustees chair, helped launch the renovation and expansion project as part of a $50 million gift in 2019. Over the last five years, nearly 60 donors have made principal gifts of $1 million or more toward the project. Nearly 300 other people have donated gifts of other sizes.
“While Cox already enjoys a national reputation as one of the top business schools in the country, we have bigger plans,” David B. Miller says. “Our gift is all about supporting that vision and Cox’s ascent.”
The Miller Business Quadrangle retains the school’s original location on Bishop Boulevard in the heart of the SMU campus. The facilities also extend the legacy of the school’s three anchor buildings. Construction took them down to the studs before joining them together with several new facilities:
- Fincher Building – first opened in 1954
- Crow Building – first opened in 1987
- Maguire Building – first opened in 1987
- Bryan S. Sheffield Hall – new
- Bolin-Bridwell Hall – new
- Kim and William C. Shaddock Hall – new
- Southeast Hall – new
- Katy and Kyle D. Miller Courtyard – new
The collaborative planning and fundraising efforts of alumni, donors, faculty, staff, corporate partners and the broader Cox community to build the David B. Miller Business Quadrangle demonstrate to students, prospective students and strategic partners that SMU and the Cox School are forging the future of business education, preparing graduates to lead top companies and succeed as entrepreneurs.
To learn more about the facilities, visit smu.edu/cox-future.
