Entrepreneurs Hall short $5 million for equipment
The building will open on schedule in January, but the university will pay for its expenses out of the operating budget until the money is raised.

BY ANTOINETTE VEGA
Staff Reporter

The Sarah and Steve Smith Entrepreneurs Hall is short $5 million to complete the master’s of business administration section of the building, administrators said.

The money will contribute to the equipment and furniture on the MBA floor and provide for the endowment for maintenance and upkeep of the building, said Bronson Davis, vice chancellor of university advancement. The building is still scheduled to open January 2003 even if the money is not raised.

“Until the money is raised any expenses will be paid from bond money or the operating budget,” he said. “The lack of funds will not affect the opening date or the resources in the building.”Cathy Neece, senior associate in university advancement for the M.J. Neeley

School of Business, said a fund-raising team is looking to alumni, Fort Worth area corporations and past donors to raise the money by February 2003.

“We are giving tours and showing layouts of the building to gain the interest of prospective donors,” she said. “We hope when they see how advanced the building is, they will be interested in donating money.”

Smith Hall is not the only building that has had fund-raising woes. The William E. and Jean Jones Tucker Technology Center opened in April without an endowment to cover operating costs, which included maintenance and utilities. The funding currently comes from the university’s operating budget, Davis said.

“With increased spending and the slow economy, fund-raising for the Tucker building fell behind,” he said. “We decided then that future fund-raising attempts would not be made until the total cost of a building was known.”

The three-story Sarah and Steve Smith Entrepreneurs Hall, which houses the MBA program, the Entrepreneur Center and the Graduate Career Services Center, is funded by a $10.5 million donation from entrepreneurs Steve and Sarah Smith, who are TCU parents from Austin.

The building will have a conference room, two classrooms and a sandwich shop on the first floor, as well as nine classrooms and 19 team rooms on the second floor, said Bill Moncrief, associate dean of business. He said the Graduate Career Services Center will share the third floor with the Entrepreneur Center, both of which are currently located in the M.J. Neeley School of Business.

“The building is named for entrepreneurs but will benefit all students, especially those in business,” Moncrief said.

Moncrief said the new building will have state-of-the-art classrooms, wired for laptop computers and power point projectors. The technology will help the business school compete with other business schools around the country who already have these resources, he said.

“We compete with schools such as Baylor University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Virginia, which have new buildings and updated resources,” Moncrief said. “With state-of-the-art facilities we will have a competitive advantage and be capable of more.”

Michele Kruzel, a senior e-business and marketing major, said the new building is needed because it has more rooms to practice presentations and complete projects.

“There are times when I can’t find rooms to practice presentations because the business school runs out of space,” she said. “This building will give students more room.”

a.c.vega@tcu.edu