The University of Delaware has received a $71.5 million donation, the largest in the university’s 282-year history, which will help pay for construction of a business school facility.
The university says the gift from Robert L. Siegfried, Jr. and Kathleen Marie (Horgan) Siegfried, along with The Siegfried Group, will provide a new home for the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Both Siegfrieds are alumni of the University of Delaware.
The building, to be named Siegfried Hall, will be a student-centric learning space with modern classrooms, research and teaching labs, a student-run café, and an auditorium. Some of its features:
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A Student Success and Excellence Center will facilitate personal and professional development with student advising and career services.
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Immersive, experiential learning space will enable hands-on learning through instructional computing labs, public computing space, and generative AI.
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Interactive student meeting spaces will integrate technology to facilitate team projects, interdisciplinary research, active learning through case study competitions, club activities, entrepreneurial programming, and remote job interviewing.
Siegfried Hall also will be the host site of the new Siegfried Institute for Leadership and Free Enterprise, an “idea lab” that will contribute to developing the capabilities and characteristics of effective leadership, while further studying the critical role basic principles of limited government, rule of law, and free enterprise play in supporting individual freedom and leadership.
The university will commission the design process for Siegfried Hall this spring, with a goal of breaking ground within the next four years. The campus location for Siegfried Hall will be announced later.
