Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Wohlers Hall [PAGE 10]

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1964. Among its many attributes was an IBM computer lab, a rarity in buildings designed for the social sciences. There were seven amphitheatre classrooms similar to those found at Harvard Business School, a large auditorium, a wellappointed graduate student and faculty lounge, graduate student carrels, twenty-seven classrooms, and faculty offices. The building housed the departments of economics, marketing, industrial administration, and accounting, as well as the Graduate School of Business Administration, the Executive Development Center, and the Center for International Education. Before Commerce West was built, only three full professors had private offices. All others shared an office, with one space in DKH housing eight faculty. Although the new building did not totally relieve the college's shortage of space, it made a tremendous difference. As one contemporary newspaper article Computer lab, circa 1964 put it, "After being shunted to eleven locations, it will be a place to call home.'

ow, after thirty-six years, Commerce West has undergone a major renovation, thanks to the generosity of Al and Jane Wohlers, who made a lead gift of $6 million, and Judd Malkin and Neil Bluhm, both 1959 accountancy graduates, who each gave $ 1 million toward the renovation. On September 21,2000, in recognition of their lead gift, Commerce West is being renamed Wohlers Hall. Room 260 will be called the Judd D. Malkin Dean's Suite and Room 141 will be known as the Neil G. Bluhm Lecture Hall. As soon as the Wohlers voiced an interest in making a gift to refurbish Commerce West, the college conducted an