It may look like it's just a gaping hole in the lawn next to the Jacobs Management Center, filled with piles of rubble, bulldozers and dumpsters - but University officials envision a state-of-the-art addition to UB's rapidly evolving campus, as well as a step towards serious philanthropic donations.
The Alfiero Center, slated for completion in May 2005, will contain three floors centered around a large, open atrium for student congregation. There will also be three high-tech classrooms, a career resource center, an Internet caf?(c) and a mosaic glass and ceramic tile wall that recognizes donors to the School of Management.
"It's all students," said Lawrence Michael, assistant dean of the School of Management. "Everything there will be student-oriented."
The business school will occupy most of the $6.5 million center, named after Sal H. Alfiero, who contributed two million dollars to the School of Management in 2001.
Jane Armbruster, assistant dean and senior director of development in the School of Management, said Alfiero's donation, and the subsequent building, should help the drive for more alumni donations to the university.
"It's about establishing a precedent for the University of Buffalo, where people recognize that philanthropy is important," she said.
Michael said the idea for the new center was born three years ago and was imagined as a headquarters for business-based clubs and offices.
Construction started one month late on April 3, but Michael said he expects the project to be completed on schedule.
Some students, however, can't wait for the construction to be completed. Ryan Zarazinski, a senior economics major, said he is displeased because he has to walk around the site to get to class.
"It's a pain in the neck," said Zarazinski.
Students are not the only ones inconvenienced by the construction, as approximately 55 faculty and staff members working in parts of Jacobs Center adjacent to the new addition have been relocated to other parts of the building, according to Michael, who now shares his office with other administrators.
