Remembering our Troops As Memorial Day approaches, honoring the veterans on and off campus, Focus, page 14.
Volume #98 | Issue #26 | May 19, 2014 | depauliaonline.com
DemonTHON raises the roof
Middle Eastern entrepreneurship program launched
Students set new record: $214,050 for children’s hospital
By Brenden Moore Staff Writer
JOHN GALLAGHER | THE DEPAULIA
DemonTHON participants danced for 24 hours in a marathon effort to raise money for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. DemonTHON broke its record for the most money raised at the event in its third year. For full story, see page 3
DePaul University announced last week the formation of a center for Middle Eastern entrepreneurship to be housed within the Driehaus College of Business. The center, to be called the Sheikh Faisal Center for Entrepreneurship in the Middle East, will attempt to foster entrepreneurship through exchange programs that will allow DePaul students to study abroad in Qatar while giving Qatari students the opportunity to come to Chicago to work with business college faculty and alumni. “Our faculty and successful alumni entrepreneurs look forward to working with emerging entrepreneurs from Qatar and throughout the Middle East to support their continued development into a thriving, professional class,” Ray Whittington, dean of the Driehaus College of Business, said. “We also see the center as a great opportunity for DePaul students to gain real-world experience on
See BUSINESS, page 9
One year later, final arena plans complete By Matt Paras Sports Editor
In September, DePaul president Fr. Dennis Holtschneider and athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto were both enamored with the openness of the design for DePaul’s new basketball arena. The glass-windows from the outside flowed seamlessly into the bowl-like shape to the floor. “The design has a real classy, light presence that we thought was nicely in dialogue with the convention center, and worked well with the neighborhood to the north of it,” Holtschneider said in September. While the conceptual design of the arena was introduced, many behind-thescenes details needed to be figured out. Details such as where the locker-rooms, media room, premium and student seating are, were all areas that needed to be sorted before putting a shovel into the ground to start building Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects’ design. After eight months and nearly a year since plans were introduced for an arena to be built in the South Loop, progress on those details have been made. Ponsetto told The DePaulia she is ready to present the final plans for Holtschneider and the board of trustees to approve. “We’ve really tackled a good number of
the component parts,” Ponsetto said. “We’ll begin to work forward from (presenting to Holtschneider and the board of trustees). Our coaches have had an opportunity to spend some time and look at that. I think there’s a lot of energy and a lot of excitement about it.” “At this point, we’re very encouraged and very much on target for the shovel to go in the ground this winter,” Ponsetto said. Plans to present the details to Holtschneider and the board of trustees will be before Holtschneider leaves for Harvard Aug. 1. Holtschneider will be taking a five-month academic leave to assume “president-in-residence” at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Ponsetto said that Holtschneider’s leave of absence will not affect any progress that the arena needs to take in the upcoming months. “Father Dennis has already worked through the administration process with the board of trustees and already has their approval,” Ponsetto said. “That’s been well handled and already managed on that end. I don’t think there’s going to be any further dialogue except to make sure he’s engaged in the component parts of knowing what the whole design piece is all about.” DePaul’s arena is on track to open during the 2016-2017 season. Ponsetto said, however, that it’s too soon to tell if
Photo couresty of PELLI CLARKE PELLI
An outside rendering of the arena, slated to break ground next winter. it will be ready by opening night of that season. If the arena is ready by opening night, DePaul could face a Big Ten opponent. The Big East and the Big Ten will be facing off in an annual eight-game series, starting in 2015. “It really depends on when the construction is completed,” Ponsetto said. “If it ends up being November, late November or early December, that’s going to dictate who the opening opponent is
going to be. We’ll probably know more once we get a shovel in the ground.”
Other Developments
Over the course of the last several months, other major developments regarding the arena have happened from areas outside of DePaul’s control. The most significant change is that the public money
See ARENA, page 27