Business school expansion reflects growing demand

With its striking glass facade, light-filled classrooms and towering central atrium, the Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex at the A.B. Freeman School of Business is a spectacular addition to the uptown campus of Tulane University.

On Friday, March 2, the Tulane community came together to celebrate the completion of the business school’s long-awaited expansion with a dedication ceremony and reception in the building’s Marshall Family Commons. Hundreds of students, faculty, alumni, parents and guests turned out to take part in the celebration and tour the complex, which features more than 80,000 square feet of new and renovated space to accommodate the business school’s growing enrollments.  

“I love Winston Churchill’s observation, ‘We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us,’” said Tulane President Mike Fitts. “Buildings are composed of bricks and mortar but are really about people — how we bring them together to share ideas, how we inspire them to learn and develop, and how we teach them to dream about our futures.”

“Buildings are composed of bricks and mortar but are really about people — how we bring them together to share ideas, how we inspire them to learn and develop, and how we teach them to dream about our futures.”

—Tulane President Mike Fitts

Freeman School dean Ira Solomon said the building was designed to the smallest detail to reflect that focus on people.

“As you walk around the building today, please note how the space has been configured to encourage interaction between and among students, staff, faculty and campus visitors,” Solomon said. “It’s great to have a world-class physical plant, but we are fundamentally about the people who will occupy this space.”

While the ceremony honored all the building’s contributors, a special thank you was reserved for Bill Goldring, whose family foundations have provided anchor gifts for all three of the business school’s building projects over the last 30 years.

“Having to continuously add on to the building is a testament to the growth and success of the Freeman School,” Goldring said. “I’m happy that the Goldring and Woldenberg foundations have been able to support all the expansions.”