Next fall business students will be able to work with groups in a new technologically advanced lab molded after Bently College in Boston.

Tom Bergmann, assistant dean of the College of Business, said the lab will be built to accommodate the necessary teamwork that accounting, finance, management and other business classes demand.

In the lab, students will work at tables designed for groups of six with 42-inch flat-screen monitors, said Bergmann.

The conference tables will have hook-ups so laptops can access the lab’s audio, video and computer video systems as well as the College of Business Cyberlab.

“It’s a great way to facilitate team projects in a student learning environment. I’ve watched it operate and it works very well,” Bergmann said.

The Team Project Lab will help prepare students to perform effectively in a business environment that depends heavily on teamwork and network-based communications, he said.

The building of the lab is supported by a pledge of $30,000 by Hormel Foods, said Gretchen Hutterli, also assistant dean of the College of Business. Their gift is being matched dollar for dollar by a UW System grant.

The Hormel gift is a continuation of an educational partnership between UW-Eau Claire and Hormel Foods. The Hormel Foods Team Project Lab is scheduled to be dedicated Homecoming weekend of 2002, Hutterli said.

It will be the first of its kind in Wisconsin and Minnesota business schools.