Brock Chancellor Ned Goodman (centre) with business students at a celebration for the Goodman School of Business

As University events go, it was a celebration of the purest kind, characterized by beaming students, proud graduates and the occasional spirited outburst of a new school chant.

Officially, it was the coming-out party for the recently renamed Goodman School of Business.

But really the afternoon was an outpouring of joy and gratitude from students, professors and officials, who are clearly thrilled at seeing the former Faculty of Business take on the Goodman name.

More than 200 people – Brock students, grads and professors, as well as some key players from Niagara’s business community – packed the specially draped marquee in Market Hall on Thursday to be part of the buzz and to soak up the moment.

This is the first time Brock has re-branded a Faculty as a way to honour a special friendship, in this case as a tribute to the Goodman family, after the Goodman Foundation made a transformational gift to the business school.

At the podium, President Jack Lightstone retraced the beginnings of Brock’s relationship with Chancellor Ned Goodman, while Don Cyr, Dean of the Goodman School, spoke of how the business school’s star has been rising in terms of students, achievements and reputation.

Ned Goodman, a renowned businessman and investment leader, then shared his family’s appreciation and gave the crowd something to think about. “Let’s remember that business is an art form and let’s teach our students to be artists, in the world of business,” he said.

As student Alyssa Freeman concluded the formal agenda, relating her colleagues’ thrill at adding the Goodman name to their school and their prospects, the students presented the Chancellor with a commemorative book and the audience watched a new video in which students proudly declare the era of the Goodman School.

And as an official event began turning back into a party, students draped the Chancellor in a scarf bearing his family’s name, and clamored around him to be captured in photos from a day they will long remember.