January 21, 2005

The Rady School At UC San Diego Breaks New Ground

By Keri Minehart

The Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego broke ground on the school’s first building and celebrated the milestone with community supporters and students. This building is the first instruction and research facility at UCSD to be funded entirely by private initiatives.

Hard hats from left to right: William R. Stensrud, Marye Anne Fox, Martin A. Sabarsky (student), Robert S. Sullivan, Ernest Rady

Upon completion of raising funds, and pending approval of the Campus Naming Committee and the Office of the President, the new building will be named Otterson Hall in honor of the late William Otterson, co-founder of UCSD CONNECT, in appreciation for his contributions to the San Diego business community. Rady School supporters William and Carol Stensrud have taken a leadership role in helping to raise the funds needed to name the school in Otterson’s honor. The couple made a $5 million challenge gift in order to leverage matching funds. They will match each dollar given in pledges and gifts to the Otterson Hall Challenge.

“The Rady School is a welcome addition to the UCSD campus and we are excited to be breaking ground on this building just four months after admitting the first class of FlexMBA students,” said UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. “The Rady School facility will provide cutting-edge technology, giving students the tools they need to become leaders in the life sciences and technology sectors.”

“This is a historic day for the Rady School and for the San Diego region,” said Rady School Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “As a new entrepreneurial business school, we are hopeful that we will be able to name our first facility after Bill Otterson, an individual who meant so much to this business community.”

Other speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included Ernest Rady, the school’s founding benefactor and founder and president of American Assets, Inc.; William Stensrud, managing director and general partner of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital; and Martin Sabarsky, FlexMBA student and senior director of corporate development & investor relations of Diversa Corporation.

The new facility will have extensive programmatic uses and was specifically designed to encourage the interaction of the school with the UCSD campus and community members. The facility, which is approximately 50,000 assignable square feet, will have classrooms, conference rooms and common areas for students, as well as faculty and staff offices. The building was designed by Ellerbe Becket of Minneapolis, and occupancy is planned for fall 2006. Students will have access to state of the art facilities, making this an ideal learning environment for Rady School students, many of whom are focused on becoming business leaders in the fields of science, technology and life sciences.

The new building gives the Rady School an increased presence in San Diego and beyond. In December, UCSD purchased the former SAIC headquarters in La Jolla, using private donations. This building houses the Beyster Institute at the Rady School. The Rady School also operates a Washington, D.C. office in the University of California Washington Center. Additionally, the Beyster Institute at the Rady School has a global presence, with an entrepreneurship center in Russia and additional centers planned for Morocco, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

The Rady School at UC San Diego offers a revolutionary MBA program that grows innovators into successful business leaders. Situated in San Diego’s globally recognized hotbed of innovation, the school is uniquely poised to offer access to both cutting-edge research and a fully engaged business community. The Rady School presents an integrated approach to business and technology and emphasizes cross-boundary collaborations and joint degree programs with UC San Diego centers of excellence in science, engineering, medicine, economics and international relations. The Rady School draws upon UC San Diego’s tradition of risk-taking and breakthrough innovation to recruit the top educators and students in the world.

Media Contact: Keri Minehart, (858) 534-0855