Photos by Dan Dry
One of the lowest endowments among the top business schools.
“Under the leadership of Bob Hamada, his deputy deans, the faculty, and staff, the GSB has reached a position of global prominence. It is amazing that they have done so much with so little of an endowment, an endowment that is significantly less than our competitors’. Just imagine what Dean Hamada could do with the proper resources,” said Andy Alper, A.B. ’80, M.B.A. ’81, who with Dennis Keller, ’68, is co-chair of the capital campaign.
Securing the proper resources to not only maintain but build upon the school’s current leadership and reputation as a creator of intellectual capital is the impetus for a five-year, $175 million capital campaign that was announced January 24.
The components of the campaign are straightforward: building a new integrated campus and a residential facility for M.B.A. students, recruiting and retaining leading faculty, attracting and assisting top students, creating academic centers, and maintaining high Annual Fund participation.
Integrated Campus
Calling the integrated campus a centerpiece of the campaign, Hamada said the new building is designed to maximize opportunities for discussion, debate, and collaboration and to give students and faculty greater access to research technologies. The four-story building will bring together classrooms, faculty offices, research space, and support services under one roof for the first time. Scheduled for completion in 2003, the complex will be designed by Rafael Viñoly.
“I think you will agree that in the spirit of Daniel Burnham, we have made no little plans,” Dean Hamada told alumni and friends who gathered on campus March 1 to celebrate the launch of the campaign and to see Viñoly present plans for the new campus. “But a building is only a building unless you appreciate what happens inside, and that goes to the core of this capital campaign, which is to advance learning.”
Hamada said the campaign aims to advance learning through endowed research funds, endowed professorships, and endowed scholarships that will “play a powerful role in recruiting and retaining the best student and professorial talent.”
Academic Centers
Cross-disciplinary centers are magnets for faculty poised to make significant contributions to their fields and students eager for training in those fields. The centers act as incubators for the breakthrough thinking that drives world-class research and unparalleled learning. As such, they have the potential to raise the GSB’s profile significantly and earn the dominant ground in critical areas of business study.
Endowed Professorships
It is the GSB’s faculty that ensure the school’s high reputation. Continuing to attract and retain the very best researchers and teachers is critical. Recruitment and retention issues for faculty are no different from those in other professions: Who else is on the team? How much support is there? What kind of commitment is being offered? The best minds in the country can hold out for the right answers to those questions, and the best minds in the country are what sets the GSB apart from its peers.
“Other business schools provide opportunities for learning standard skills, student networking, and that’s important. At Chicago, we do more,” said university president Hugo Sonnenschein. “Our faculty creates remarkable new learning–learning so powerful it changes the practice of business…. This campaign, and your support of it, will enable the members of the GSB community to shape the future of business in the 21st century, just as they shape business today.”
Student Aid
Bright students challenge each other and the faculty to perform at the highest levels. A student body that is characterized by a diversity of interests, strengths, backgrounds, goals, ethnicities, and gender is essential. It ensures that recruiters and other members of the business community will continue to lend their real-world interest and involvement and that Chicago alumni will continue to form a worldwide, multisector network of thought leaders.
With tuition costs exceeding $28,000 a year, it is necessary to provide additional financial support to outstanding and deserving students. Campaign co-chair Dennis Keller, ’68, who came to the GSB’s campus program on a fellowship, said his gift gave him the opportunity to “pay back with as much interest as I could possibly muster so that future generations could have that same opportunity.”
Annual Fund
As ambitious plans take shape for new facilities and opportunities, the success of the Annual Fund remains critical. The unrestricted support of the Annual Fund ensures flexibility, allowing the school to respond quickly to new challenges or circumstances, launch new ventures, or take advantage of new opportunities. One example occurred in 1999, when the school used Annual Fund contributions to help retain key faculty members who were being actively pursued by other business schools.
For more information on the campaign and on how you can become involved, contact Karen Gaillard, associate dean for development and the capital campaign, at 773.834.0319.
$21 million
This category includes:
M.B.A. scholarships
Ph.D. fellowships
Technological upgrade fund
Programmatic needs (LEAD, presentation skills training, mentoring program)
Improving the Quality of the GSB Faculty
$24 million
This category includes:
Endowed professorships
Professorial fellowships for young professors
Endowed research funds
Improving the Quality of Alumni Support
$3 million
This category includes:
Support for the Midway Club, the Gleacher Center alumni club
Improving the Competitive Advantage of the GSB
$47 million
This category includes:
Center for Entrepreneurship
Center for Marketing
Center for International Business
Other new initiatives
Unrestricted support
A New Home for the GSB
at least $80 million
This category includes:
New GSB campus
New student residence
GRAND TOTAL
$175 million
The numbers listed above are estimates and are subject to change.
Source: The Office of Major Gifts.
More on the GSB Campaign
Blueprint for Success
The GSB's New Integrated Campus
A critical component of the capital campaign, the new integrated campus will bring classrooms, faculty offices, research space, and GSB support services under one roof for the first time.
Success by Design
The Architectural Challenge
To select an architect for the GSB's new integrated campus, the school embarked on an exhaustive yearlong search.
Behind the Campaign
Giving Back
Dennis Keller and Andrew Alper talk about their GSB connections and why they are co-chairing the campaign.
Blueprint for Success
The GSB's New Integrated Campus
A critical component of the capital campaign, the new integrated campus will bring classrooms, faculty offices, research space, and GSB support services under one roof for the first time.
Success by Design
The Architectural Challenge
To select an architect for the GSB's new integrated campus, the school embarked on an exhaustive yearlong search.
Behind the Campaign
Giving Back
Dennis Keller and Andrew Alper talk about their GSB connections and why they are co-chairing the campaign.
GSB Home