Zabriskie Hall
The Sullivan Center's classrooms and offices are located in the historic Zabriskie Hall, first constructed in 1905 and given an extensive and technology-rich renovation in 2014. Zabriskie is also home to the Center for Sustainability and the Environment, the College Store, a media arts space, Mac and PC computer labs, breakout rooms and more.
The Grind Café
Located on the first floor of Zabriskie Hall adjacent to the College Store, the Grind Café presents unique (and fun!) opportunities for students to learn firsthand the skills needed to operate a small business. A team of intern managers serve as president, vice president, human resources manager, finance manager, and operations manager. This dedicated group of entreprenerial students is responsible for meeting regularly in order to collaborate, seeking each other's input and advice as part of the strategic-planning and decision-making process.
In addition to serving snacks and coffee — most of which is organic and fair-trade certified, considering the College's strong commitment to sustainability — the Grind is a great space for student gatherings, meetings and celebrations in its cozy seating area with a great view of Cayuga Lake. Visit the Grind's Facebook page or drop them a line at thegrind@wells.edu.
Innovation Lab and Trading Room
The Innovation Lab is a collaborative space designed for and dedicated to a creative problem-solving process called "design thinking." Through this human-centered method, students learn to achieve breakthrough solutions to any kind of problem, in any field, from business and education to medicine and science.
The lab, created in 2011, has received national recognition for being the only college to integrate OpenIDEO, a collaboration network overseen by IDEO (a groundbreaking design and consulting firm in Palo Alto, Calif.) into a class assignment. Another class project challenged students to work with Target executives and managers to redesign the experience of shopping for children's apparel and accessories.
The Innovation Lab often makes use of the College's Wall Street-style trading room. Housed in the largest classroom space within the Sullivan Center, the trading room features real-time stock tickers, interactive work stations, and other critical elements of a world-classs, 21st-century financial trading hub. In classes such as Investment Management Strategies, students gain practical knoweldge through their active management of the Wells Affiliates investment portfolio, making real-time decisions about asset purchases, sales and reallocations.
Recently, students in the Innovation and Creative Problem-Solving class collaborated with a manufacturing company in nearby Auburn, N.Y. and used the design thinking process to develop innovative product designs. In January, the company videotaped brief presentations of the students' prototypes. Those are just two of many examples of how Wells students bring an entrepreneurial spirit, creative thinking and financial know-how to their work, both on campus and around the world.