The Monroe Street Journal

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Inside Ross

Media Credit: Kent Westlund [Click to enlarge]

Like a motion picture originated slated for a summer release and now delayed till the winter, the opening of the new Ross building has been pushed back several months. The exterior of the building will still be completed by Fall 2008, however the interior spaces and facilities will most likely open up to the Ross Community a little later to allow for the debugging of A/V equipment, the placement of furniture and final internal construction details. The fact that the project could be designed and produced within a little over two years is remarkable as similar projects at other schools have been on a five to ten year timeline with fundraising taking a considerable amount of that period.

The Ross planners realized how critical the new space would be to the standing of the business school as well as acknowledged the significant amount of time MBA students, both full time and evening, spend in the building. "We've got to recognize that institutions run these days as destinations and not as places that people stopover for a few hours," said Graham Mercer, assistant dean for strategic planning and special projects. Thus Dean Dolan, Associate Dean Mercer and others involved with the project accelerated the construction process while keeping an eye on creating a space that is all inclusive including classrooms, gym, dining facilities and offices.

In order to gain perspective on the size of the project and how it has come about, I wanted to recap the story of the Ross building from pitch to post-production.
The Pitch

In September 2003, Dean Robert Dolan met with Stephen Ross about a capital fundraising campaign the business school was starting. Over the course of several meetings from 2003 - 2004, they discussed what kind of gift Mr. Ross could make and what truly made up a legacy gift. While the Dean had worked on pricing theory and written case studies on the topic during his days at university in Cambridge, he was now forced to figure out how much the naming of this school would cost. At one point, he walked away from an offer of $50 million from Mr. Ross because the Dean believed that a gift of $100 million or more would truly be the stimulus and momentum the campaign needed.

Continued...

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