SB Hall to be a state-of-the-art centerpiece of UD’s business school, ‘global meeting ground’ for students, faculty, staff

IRVING, Texas (TIP): A benign Sun shone on the venue of groundbreaking celebration on Friday, Oct. 17, to officially mark the start of construction on SB Hall, the new state-of-the-art home of the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Businessin the University of Dallas. When completed in early 2016, the $12 million, 45,000-square-foot academic building will be the centerpiece of UD’s acclaimed Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business, which grants master of business administration (MBA), Master of Science, doctor of business administration and bachelor’s degrees.

The college is accredited by AACSB International – a distinction earned by fewer than five percent of business schools worldwide – and was renamed in 2013 after Dallas-based global steel entrepreneurs Satish and Yasmin Gupta, whose gift will fund the building. The Guptas are graduates of the university’s MBA program. “We are thrilled to break ground on a wonderful new facility that will advance students to the cutting edge of technology and business,” said Satish Gupta.

“The University of Dallas was like a new home for us when we first came to the United States from India, and we hope this new home for the college of business will play an equally important role in the lives of University of Dallas students, faculty and staff.” “It is a privilege for to us to be able to give back to the university and help empowertomorrow’s leaders,” said Yasmin Gupta. “We hope SB Hall and the college of business will become a global meeting ground for students of all cultures who will go forth into the world and have a positive impact on their communities.”

She noted that 20 percent of the university’s business students are international, representing 40 different countries. The Guptas’ $12 million gift to build SB Hall is the single largest donation in the University of Dallas’ 58-year history. The new academic facility is designed by Perkins+Will, a national leader in higher education architecture, and is being constructed by The Beck Group, a thirdgeneration, family-owned Dallas firm. Additional funding is necessary for the purchase and installation of fixtures, furniture and computer hardware, as well as for the completion of landscaping and parking facilities.

In total, the project will exceed $16 million, giving Dallas/Fort Worth another premier, elite higher education facility. Situated amid the rolling hills of the 222-acre University of Dallas campus in Irving, SB Hall will stand at one of the highest points in the area. When completed, the facility will support the university’s commitment to energy efficiency and green architecture. The building will incorporate classrooms on every floor, community gathering places and study lounges, and numerous meeting spaces for student groups. SB Hall will boast an abundance of natural light and interactive classrooms and is designed to evolve through the decades, allowing reconfiguration of spaces as the campus population and its needs change.

“It’s going to be a jewel for the entire campus,” said Robert Scherer, dean of the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business. “We’re so thankful to Satish and Yasmin Gupta for helping us build a facility that will have a transformative effect – not only on the college of business but on the entire University of Dallas community.” The groundbreaking of SB Hall is the latest milestone in the half-century evolution of the University of Dallas’ business program. Since the university opened in 1956, offerings in business and economics have been an important component of the curriculum. In 1966, the Braniff Graduate School was established and began offering an MBA program.

UD later launched the Graduate School of Management. Today, the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business enrolls 1,400 graduate and undergraduate students. “The groundbreaking of SB Hall marks an important new chapter in our university’s history,” said University of Dallas President Thomas W. Keefe. “I’d like to thank Satish and Yasmin Gupta for their extraordinary generosity and their steadfast commitment to the university and the entire community.” In 1981, while a business graduate student at the University of Dallas, Satish Gupta founded SB International, Inc., a privately held global steel company headquartered in Dallas.

SB International is one of the largest suppliers of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) to the North American oil and gas industry. The company and its affiliates and subsidiaries manufacture, supply and distribute high-quality steel products, as well as invest in the global supply chain of natural resources for the energy sector. Yasmin Gupta is the company’s executive vice president. The Guptas serve Dallas/Fort Worth through various organizations related to cultural education and outreach, including the Gupta Agarwal Charitable Foundation, which Satish Gupta founded. They also support the Primary Care Clinic of North Texas and the Greater Dallas Arya Samaj Cancer Clinic, a system of non-profit health care facilities providing medical care to local uninsured adults. SB International, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is a privately held steel manufacturing and distribution company headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

The company is primarily focused on the energy sector and is one of the largest suppliers of high-quality oil country tubular goods and line pipe to the oil and gas industry in North America, as well as an importer and exporter of specialized steel products. The company began as an exporter of metals and secondary steel, subsequently expanding into importing and exporting stainless steel products, becoming a global trader of prime products in the domestic and international markets. Today, SB International’s reach within the energy sector spans servicing the drilling industry to investing in the global supply chain of natural gas and other resources to emerging markets.

For more information, visitwww.SBISteel.com. The University of Dallas is a leading Catholic university widely recognized for academic excellence by well-known publications, organizations and accrediting bodies. It offers distinctive individual undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in the liberal arts, business and ministry that are characterized by an exceptional, engaged faculty, a commitment to shaping principled, well-skilled leaders and academic rigor in the Catholic intellectual tradition. For more information, visit www.udallas.edu.