Taking care of business

Saunders College of Business has broken ground on the multi-million dollar expansion and renovation project at Max Lowenthal Hall.

The project, expected to open in early 2024, will nearly double the building’s footprint and will offer cutting-edge teaching and learning spaces, opportunities for innovative research, state-of-the-art event and collaboration spaces, as well as renovations to existing spaces.

This project would not have been possible without transformational gifts from Saunders College alumni and friends, including serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and college namesake E. Philip Saunders; Chance Wright ’18 (advertising photography), ’19 (MBA);  Susan Holliday ’85 (MBA); the late Klaus Gueldenpfennig ’74 MS (electrical engineering), ’77 (MBA); Brigitte Gueldenpfennig ’81 (MBA); and Dinah Gueldenpfennig Weisberg ’97 MS (software development and management), ’03 (EMBA), who collectively committed nearly $12 million toward the project.

Additionally, Saunders College was awarded a grant from New York state as part of the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program.

The new building will feature student team rooms, applied research and case analysis labs, an event space and reception hall, state-of-the-art auditorium, a café, an executive MBA and executive education suite, a wine room in support of the hospitality program, and outdoor spaces with expansive views of campus.

Existing classrooms will also be renovated in support of innovative and student-centered pedagogy. 

This story is part of the 2023 President’s Annual Report. Read more stories from the report.