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New Home of Rady School of Management Dedicated
Building Named After UCSD CONNECT Co-founder
Ioana Patringenaru | June 4, 2007
Hundreds of voices shouted: “One, two, three, cut!” Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, San Diego businessman Ernest Rady and Anne Otterson, the widow of local entrepreneur Bill Otterson, graciously obliged. They cut a silky ribbon to dedicate the new home of the Rady School of Management Friday.
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| From left: Senior Vice Chancellor Marsha Chandler, Ernest Rady, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, Anne Otterson and Rady alumna Ciara Kennedy cut the ribbon for Otterson Hall Friday. |
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The building was named Otterson Hall in honor of the co-founder of UCSD CONNECT for his contributions to the San Diego business community and his impact on the region.
“Bill Otterson stood out for his inspiration, innovation and impact,” Fox said Friday during the dedication ceremony.
About 200 students will now call the new 50,000-square-foot facility their home. Among this year’s full-time MBA class of 56, 12 have graduate degrees, eight have a doctorate and one is a doctor, Fox said. They hail from all over the world, including Bulgaria, Canada, Ghana, Italy, Korea and Japan. Anne Otterson said she hoped the school’s graduates would help make the world a better place.
Their new home houses classrooms, conference rooms and common areas for students, as well as faculty and staff offices. Several students who took tours of the building after the dedication ceremony admired its handsome locker rooms, with wooden doors and wood-paneled walls.
The new building is unique because donations from individuals and corporations covered most of its $43 million price tag, said Rady School Dean Robert Sullivan. More than 340 donors contributed to the effort, he added.
“This is truly a milestone event for this school, a milestone event for the campus and a milestone event for the University of California,” Sullivan also said.
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| Artist rendering of the Rady School of Management. |
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Ernest Rady and the Rady Family Foundation contributed $30 million, the second largest philanthropic gift in UCSD’s history. “This is a great day for us all,” Rady said Friday. “I can’t tell you how proud I am to be here with you today.”
Bill and Carol Stensrud also matched building gifts dollar-for-dollar, allowing the Rady School’s home to be named Otterson Hall. Friday, Bill Stensrud talked fondly about his first meeting with Otterson, who would become his mentor.
“Without him, San Diego wouldn’t be here, this school wouldn’t be here, this building wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be here,” Stensrud said.
Students in Rady’s FlexMBA class also raised more than $200,000 and the new building’s library will be named in their honor, Fox said. Otterson Hall was built with sustainability in mind, she also said. Office chairs are made of recyclable materials and are 98 percent recyclable themselves. New solar panels also will go up on the roof soon, Sullivan said. The energy they will produce will offset about 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year, he added.
A 50,000-square-foot second phase of construction is scheduled to be completed by summer 2011. It includes classrooms, team study rooms, multi-purpose conference rooms, a student support media room, changing and locker areas, student support offices, academic faculty offices, research areas and a 295-seat auditorium. |
