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Home at Last and 221 faculty and staff. In the end, the $82.5 million building was funded entirely through philanthropic support, primarily from alumni. The project took time and patience, said J. Hap Fauth (BSBA ’67), a member of the Board of Advisors, in an earlier interview. “Like any elongated projects, there were many highs and lows, many starts and many stops,” Fauth said. “When I started this, I had black hair. My hair is closer to white today.” Undeterred, the staff and volunteers pushed ahead. Professor John Mayo, former interim dean, and Mike Boyd, former development director, managed to more than double the amount of pledged donations to reach the funding threshold required by the Georgetown University Trustees for committing to a new building. Alumni
Peter Forman
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Auditorium, honored guests, students, faculty, and alumni filled the stairways and walkways throughout the atrium. Some headed to the McBride Executive Education Center while others met friends in the Connelly Commons, both of which are part of the Lauren and Robert H. Steers Wing. Guests also attended a reception in the Fisher Colloquium, which has extraordinary views of Georgetown’s campus, the Rosslyn skyline, and even the Washington Monument. Many of the people lending their names to these spaces attended the dedication, and
Dean George Daly extended his gratitude for their work on a project that was years in the making. “Those of us who have the privilege of working, teaching, and learning in this spectacular building will always owe a debt of gratitude to you for making what for many years was a dream into a reality,” Daly said. For years, administrators, faculty, fundraisers, and alumni worked tirelessly on this cause, knowing that the McDonough School of Business needed a home for its 1,400 undergraduates, 1,000 MBA students, 500 executive education students,
Phil Humnicky
he Rafik B. Hariri Building, the new home for Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, opened in summer 2009. By Sept. 16, the day of the building’s blessing and dedication, the five-story facility was filled with people, each taking advantage of all it has to offer. At the start of the day, members of the university’s board of directors gathered on the first floor in the J. Hap Fauth Wing for the unveiling of the portrait of Robert E. McDonough, for whom the McDonough School of Business is named. The portrait appears in the transition space between the rotunda and the four-story Dr. Simone Ballandras McDonough Atrium, an open gathering place filled with natural light. Prior to and after the 5:30 p.m. blessing and dedication ceremony in the Lohrfink
Ribbon-cutting for the Rafik B. Hariri Building
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