UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 16, Page 1
January 4, 1996
New business building to open in fall of 1997

     By the 1997 fall semester, a new building will be ready for the
College of Business and Economics.
     While waiting for a meeting or class to begin, visitors and
students will be able to relax beside the building's centerpiece-a
three-story, glass-walled atrium with skylights.
     The new building also will feature formal conference rooms,
administrative offices, four case-study classrooms and a second-story
bridge to Purnell Hall, according to Jeff Gillespie, associate dean.
     Construction of the 45,000-square-foot building, to be located at
the intersection of Amstel Avenue and Orchard Road, will begin this
June. By the time the new building is completed, Purnell Hall also
will be completely refurbished.
     Named MBNA America Hall, in recognition of a $2.5 million gift
from the financial services giant, the new building will feature
spacious, centrally located office suites for all B&E centers,
including the Small Business Development Center and the Center for
Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, Dean Kenneth R. Biederman
said.
     "Right now, the MBA offices and our various centers are
squirreled away throughout Purnell Hall," he said. "We're going to
make these service-oriented offices more accessible and more
accommodating to the public."
     MBNA America's gift is contingent upon $11 million in state
funding. The remaining $1.5 million for the $15 million building is
being covered by other private sources, including $1 million from
benefactor Chaplin Tyler of Hockessin, and $150,000 from J.P. Morgan
Bank. The University is still seeking $350,000 in private funding for
the project.
     The project is being designed by Stubbins Associates Inc. of
Cambridge, Mass., a firm with significant collegiate experience,
having designed buildings at Vanderbilt and Duke universities and the
University of Chicago, as well as such diverse buildings as the
Landmark Tower in Tokyo, the Citicorp Center in New York City and the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
     Wohlsen Construction Company of New Castle will serve as
construction manager for this  project.