With the completion of the new Wharton quadrangle last spring, many former College Green/Locust Walk junkies have abandoned their old camp and migrated instead to the new lawn and the freshly bricked 37th Street Walk. The Wharton School dedicated the William Mack Plaza and the upper Shearson Leaman Quadrangle Friday, making the former parking lot the new centerpiece of the Wharton complex. And 300 observers were present to take advantage of the free hot dog stands, the large Quadrangle cake, and a series of short remarks from Wharton officials and the donors themselves. Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity opened the dedication ceremony, offering words of appreciation for the generosity of 1961 Wharton graduate William Mack and his co-donor, Shearson Lehman Brothers, represented by Chairman and CEO Howard Clark. Though not officially recognized until Friday's ceremony, students, faculty, and staff have been using the grassy lawn since its construction was completed last spring. Wharton junior Mabel Wong said that she and her friends find College Green "too crammed" during lunchtime, and that the new quad is also much closer to her classes in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Wharton junior Penh Huynh said that the Mack Plaza serves as the ideal spot for meetings, "even at night". To second-year Wharton MBA candidate Cynthia Kramur, the new plaza was the "perfect" spot to attend a class last spring, and according to Wharton junior Penh Huynhan an ideal spot for club or organizational meetings. "It's nice to have grass on campus," said Gabriela Millhorn, a second-year Wharton MBA candidate, "and it's a good place to meet people." Wharton junior Jason Horwath, who was leading a tour of the campus for prospective students during the ceremony, said they were very impressed by the new plaza. Provost Michael Aiken said that the new Quad would help "set the tone for the campus," as College Green and Locust Walk already do. The Quad and Plaza together serve as the companion piece to the Class of 1962 Walkway, the newly bricked section of 37th Street between Locust and Spruce streets. Aiken said he hopes the plaza will become a gateway to the University and that its completion "is really something to cheer about." Mack, the president and CEO of the Mack Organization, a real estate investing and developing firm, said he helped fund the Wharton project because he felt that the facility was "necessary and essential" to university life. "Universities aren't just perpetuated by outstanding faculty, buildings, and students," Mack said, but also by a healthy "atmosphere of meeting, discussion, thinking, socializing, and study." He emphasized the plaza's central location as its first, second and third most important attributes. Howard Clark said that over 200 of Shearson Lehman's employees have received their business degrees from Wharton and that both institutions share a commitment to the growth and development of business education. "This beautiful Quadrangle represents that ongoing commitment," Clark said. According to Virginia Clark, associate dean for Wharton external affairs, former Wharton Dean Russell Palmer first proposed the construction of such a plaza in 1986 or 1987. Mack and Shearson Lehman Brothers, both active members of the Wharton alumni community, selected the plaza and quadrangle from a list of possible gifts. Dean Clark, who headed the University's fundraising campaign for the plaza, said both Mack and Shearson Lehman contributed half of the $1 million required for the construction of the plaza and quad. (CUT LINE) Please see WHARTON, page 9 WHARTON, from page 1
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