Brashier Center Provides North Greenville MBA Students a Building Downtown
By Abbi Webb, Assistant Editor
North Greenville University held a dedication service on Thursday, Sept. 11, that announced the opening of a new building in downtown Greenville, the “Tim Brashier Center,” that will house the university’s Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Program.
A press release stated that the newly remodeled building was given as a gift to the university in 2011 from an Upstate couple, Dr. T. Walter and Christine Brashier. In addition to North Greenville’s MBA program, the building will also house the graduate program admissions advisors and the College of Adult Professional Studies (CAPS), the press release stated.
Laverne Howell, Director for Public Relations at North Greenville University, said the T. Walter Brashier Graduate School in Greer, S.C., which previously housed the MBA program, is still there. Howell said the new building will be helpful for MBA and CAPS students because of its central location.
“It gives us (North Greenville University) a downtown presence,” said Howell. It will be easier on the graduate students who live in the Greenville area to get to school with a downtown location, he added.
As stated in the press release, “North Greenville trustees voted to name the location the Tim Brashier Center in memory of the couple�s son, Martin Timothy Brashier, who passed away in September of 2012.”
Brashier was an NGU alumni who graduated in 1979 with an associate’s in science degree, said Howell. He later went to work for several family businesses, one of which was a building company that constructed the apartment complexes right next to the now “Tim Brashier Center,'” added Howell.
Among his many gifts to North Greenville University, Brashier gave residence building, “Brashier Hall,” to the school in the 1970’s, said Howell.
“Their beliefs and ours are very in line with each other,” Howell added about the Brashier family and the reasons for their ongoing generosity to the university.
The “Tim Brashier Center” is located in the old Steak and Ale building on South Pleasantburg Drive.