Building For The Future Groundbreaking brings SOM's new home closer to reality Fundraising progresses as the concrete pours By Helen Bond Dirt is flying as work begins on the new home of The UTD School of Management (SOM). But while fulfilling the dream is underway to meet the School's explosive growth, the job of raising the money needed to complete construction continues. "We've broken ground, but our fundraising is not complete," says Jerry Hoag, chairman of the SOM Advisory Council. "We need to come up with an additional three million to four million dollars to complete the building as planned by the summer of 2003." Everyone counts To accomplish this task, U.T. Dallas is turning to people it knows best: alumni, faculty, and friends. It is an effort that is paying off. "What is pleasing is that individuals are stepping up at a time when a lot of the traditional corporate supporters are in difficult economic circumstances," says Ron Nash, chairman-elect of the Advisory Council and an alum (MS '79) of the School. Despite the uncertain economy, UTD continues to successfully rely on corporate support for its activities. "Corporations recognize their partnerships with the University are paramount in terms of the ability to hire the highly skilled, technology-oriented workforce they need," according to Dr. Diane Seay McNulty, associate dean for SOM's external affairs and corporate development. As a result, corporate leaders have stepped in with the financial support critical to ensure groundbreaking for the new building. For example, Fujitsu Network Communications has provided a one million-dollar corporate pledge; TXU has committed two hundred fifty thousand dollars to the fundraising campaign; Alliance Data Systems has pledged one hundred fifty thousand dollars. The Building for the Future Fund for The School of Management is the name chosen for the effort to raise eight million dollars of the projected construction costs of thirty-eight million dollars. In the fall of 2000, the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System allocated thirty million dollars for the new facility on the condition that SOM supporters fund the remaining amount. As a result of donations made so far, the Regents have released the funds and have given the green light to break ground. To date, alumni have accounted for forty percent of the four million three hundred thousand dollars raised. The largest gifts from individuals have come from SOM graduates Chuck (MS '80) and Nancy (BS '80) Davidson, who generously donated the project's first alumni gift of one million dollars, and University supporter Louis Beecherl, who gave five hundred thousand dollars. An additional significant commitment has come from SOM graduate Ann Utley (EMBA '97) and her husband, Bob Utley. Another nineteen percent has come from the financial commitments from members of the SOM faculty and Advisory Council. Halfway home UTD President Dr. Franklyn Jenifer notes that fundraising is at the halfway point. "Reaching our phase one goal in this economic climate is significant, and we are confident that phase two of our fundraising efforts will be equally successful. Now that we are at the halfway point, our strategy is to reach out to alumni and other corporate friends for commitments that will enable the attainment of the construction funding goal," Dr. Jenifer says. The School's goal is to garner participation from seventy-five percent of its alumni, according to Dr. McNulty. "Most business schools with the same level of quality as ours have a building that they can call home. Graduates from The UTD School of Management should want to leverage their degrees and have a stake in this building. The more prestigious The School of Management becomes, the more value their degree has." When complete, the new 180,000-square-foot building will include classrooms with state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, wireless connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, a computer lab, faculty offices, meeting rooms, and an executive education center. "Construction of the new building is critical for the continuing growth of our School and the continuing development and quality of our programs," says SOM Dean Hasan Pirkul. "We've gotten to the point where we simply are unable to operate at the level we should operate. We are spread over five buildings on campus, and our classrooms are inadequate to do the quality job we want to do for our students. There are simply not enough classrooms and offices." Strong reasons to participate Each contribution-no matter what the amount-is valuable. Each, in effect is multiplied by the matching funds from the Regents and other sources, all of whom consider levels of support from alumni, the business community, and friends when making financial decisions. While all funding levels are welcomed, participants in the SOM Building for the Future Fund can occupy a prominent and permanent spot in the new building with specific donation levels: * For gifts or pledges above five thousand dollars, facility-naming opportunities are available for various areas of the building. * With a gift or pledge of five thousand dollars, a donor's name will be engraved on a brass plaque that will be displayed on a "Wall of Honor" in the new building. * A one thousand-dollar gift or pledge will place a donor's name permanently on a brick that will become part of a wall of donors' names that will be prominently displayed in the building. The effort to include alumni in fundraising goals is a natural evolution of the School's progress toward becoming a top-tier management school. The SOM is the largest school at UTD. Enrollment is up fifty percent in the last three years; the School attracts quality students who have some of the highest SAT scores in the nation. The School also has sixty percent more faculty than five years ago; SOM faculty research is proving fundamental to the creation of new knowledge in the Management field, with the School's faculty ranking fourteenth among all U.S. business schools in the number of citations they receive in scholarly research publications. Executives should also have a vested interest in ensuring that the planned executive education wing of the new building becomes a reality. The facility, if completed as designed, would offer a quality site for alumni and corporate friends to hold events and seminars. The new building: 'A key driver in the continued development of dallas' The North Texas region will also benefit from the school's plans. "This building is a key driver in the continued development of Dallas as a leading global economic center," says Mr. Hoag, vice president of the general management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Inc. "We are also the northern anchor of the Texas Telecom Corridor, which runs between Dallas and Austin...We [UTD] have to be bigger and better." Dean Pirkul agrees. "It is very exciting. This is a milestone in the development of not only our School, but the whole University."