The "Dr. William C. 'Bill' Hamilton, Jr. MBA Classroom" Improved and Ready for Action

In July of last year, we reported on the Synovus Center's new high-tech classroom funded by a generous donation from Jackie Hamilton meant to honor her father Bill Hamilton, a retired professor of management and the first MBA Program Director in the Turner College. That post reported that the Turner College was proudly unveiling a state-of-the-art synchronous classroom on the third floor of the Synovus Center on CSU's main campus. At that time the room was equipped with technology that makes it possible for students joining a class remotely to have as full a learning experience as those who are physically in the room. Large screens were dedicated to each remote student with separate cameras and microphones. In addition, the classroom had several breakout rooms that allow small groups of students (both in person and remote) to hold discussions and work on projects together without the distractions of the noise from other groups. Unfortunately for Turner College students and faculty, construction on the exterior walls of the Synovus Center prevented the Turner College administration to bring the new classroom on board for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 courses. During that time, however, additional work inside the classroom occurred so that it now has even more technological capability.

Some of the latest improvements can be seen in the accompanying photograph at left and below at right. These include the large mobile screen and additional screens along the wall at the front of the classroom. A plaque honoring Jackie's donation and Bill's service to the Turner College has also been hung (behind the podium). An image of the plaque is provided at the top of this post, while the inscription on the plaque is provided in quotations below. Lastly, one of the breakout rooms is depicted in the image at the bottom of this post, indicating the type of technology that students occupying the rooms will be able utilize in working on discussion-based research and in communicating with others in the class and students working remotely.

"Coming to Columbus State, then known as Columbus College, in 1973 to start the MBA program, Dr. Bill Hamilton created the curriculum and served as the program director for 17 years. He taught statistics, operations management, management science and management principles at both the BBA and MBA levels. His commitment to his students and the University resulted in his service as the director of the Business Administration unit on three different occasions. Following 32 years of teaching at CSU, he retired as Professor Emeritus of Management in 2005. Prior to his 37 years of university teaching, he was a systems analyst and programmer for NASA."