Officials, donor break ground on Wharton's Huntsman Hall

It's not often that two Fortune 500 chief executive officers break down into tears and hug each other. But the emotional embrace occurred between two former classmates -- 1959 Wharton graduates Saul Steinberg, CEO of the Reliance Holding Group and a University Trustee, and Huntsman Chemical Corp. CEO Jon Huntsman -- at the Friday groundbreaking ceremony for Huntsman Hall, the school's $128 million business educational complex to be located at 38th and Walnut streets on the site of the old University Bookstore. The embrace set the tone for the affair, which was attended by more than 300 prominent University alumni, faculty and current student leaders at Vance Hall. Huntsman donated $40 million to the business school last May and last month Wharton officials announced the donation would be used to fund the new facility, which would be named for its largest donor. Designed by renowned architectural firm Kohn Fox Pederson, the 320,000-square-foot complex will house the 4,700 students in Wharton's graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as administrators and four academic departments. It will also provide space for 48 state-of-the-art classrooms, additional computer labs, group workstations, study and social lounges, an auditorium and conference center as well as two new cafes. Following their speeches, Huntsman and Steinberg joined University President Judith Rodin and Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity to unveil a 4'-by-4' model of Huntsman Hall. Huntsman's wife, Karen, and son Jon Huntsman Jr., a University Trustee, then joined the four on stage to dig up the first bits of symbolic dirt that officially marked the beginning of construction on the facility, set to be completed in 2002. Huntsman -- who found out just a month ago that the University was going to name the building in his honor -- was clearly humbled. "I suggested that it be named after Dean Gerrity or President Judith Rodin, or someone who made a real contribution. But they suggested me," he said. "I will always feel unworthy and undeserving that my name is on this building." But both Gerrity and Rodin said they couldn't think of a better person to honor with the new building. "Jon M. Huntsman Hall will set a new standard for management teaching and [business] education," Gerrity said. "It's only so fitting that this building [that] is going to touch so many future leaders bears the name of such an extraordinary and revered alumnus." Rodin noted the importance of Huntsman's donation -- the second-largest ever made to a business school -- to both Penn and Wharton. "When I arrived at Penn five years ago, the need for a new facility was obvious. The world's finest business school was operating in facilities that neither matched its needs or reputation," she said. "We were at the point the quality of the facilities were having a potentially detrimental effect on the quality of our programming." She continued to praise the planned new building, noting that Huntsman Hall will blend technology with tradition, improve the classroom environment and enhance the campus community.