Students make use of new Alfiero Center

With a price tag of $7 million, the Alfiero Center is the first building largely supported by private donors on UB property, and its striking glass facade has received a relatively warm welcome since its grand opening April 26.

The center is named in honor of Sal H. Alfiero, the chair and CEO of Protective Industries, and his wife Jeanne, who gave a generous contribution of $2 million to the business school to help start the project.

"I think its beautiful," said Richard Anslow, a 1982 graduate of the School of Management, who was touring the center this past week, "A few of the rooms are named after professors I had 25 years ago."

The center features a convening area and three-story atrium. The atrium will be named for J. Grant Hauber and his wife, Marcia, who gave $500,000 to lead the campaign to build that area of the structure. The majority of the funding for the center came from more than 150 alumni, friends, foundations and corporations.

Eugene Khitrik, a 2nd-year grad student working towards his MBA, said the Alfiero Center was not what he was expecting.

"It's a waste of open space," he said. "I expected it to be something bigger."

He said he also had hoped for a few TVs in the caf?(c) area and was surprised at the small number of classrooms.

Brian McMillen, a junior business major, said he liked the size and that it was a nice setup with a lot of open space. He said he enjoys the ability to spend time in the caf?(c) and mezzanine between classes where he can talk to friends and eat.

It's also cozier than the crowded and noisy Student Union, he said.

At 23,000-square-feet and three stories tall, the center houses the Clement Caf?(c), a resource center and three high-tech lecture halls with in-wall computers to save space. To continue the "for the students" concept behind the center, there are undergraduate and graduate student-advisement offices, several offices for use by student clubs and multiple breakout rooms that students can reserve for group projects.

The center's opening comes on the heels of a series of annual improvements for the School of Management in national recognition. The Wall Street Journal has ranked UB School of Management as one of the world's "top business schools," and Forbes magazine also has recognized it for "best return on investment."