Summer 2002
$5 Million Gift from Duques Puts
Name On New Business School Building
Duques Hall Slated as 167,000 Square-Foot Addition
to Funger Hall
By Robert
Moll
GW Trustee Henry “Ric” Duques and his wife, Dawn, will donate
$5 million to name a new building for GW’s School of Business and
Public Management (SBPM). Duques Hall will be a 167,000 square-foot
addition to the existing Funger Hall.
Duques is chair of First Data Corporation. He earned his BBA in accountancy
in 1965 and his MBA in accountancy and finance in 1969, both from GW.
He also earned a GW Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award in 1993.
Dawn Duques earned a BA at GW’s former School of Education and
Human Development in 1968. Their son, David, graduated from GW with
a BBA in 1997, and their daughter, Tiffany, graduated with a BBA in
2002.
GW will break ground on the business school project this fall. A late
2004 or early 2005 occupancy date is planned. The $50 million business
school complex will include new high-tech classrooms, team rooms, a
career center, and computer labs.
Additionally, Duques Hall will include a Capital Markets Room, where
students can access real-time quotes, use proprietary software and financial
information systems, and learn skills necessary for financial modeling,
trading, and portfolio management. Guest lectures and special events
will be held in the 115-seat auditorium. Meanwhile, students will meet
informally and collaborate on projects and other learning exercises
in a series of study lounges. The building also will house an executive
conference center.
SBPM’s primary building is the Hall of Government, which it moved
into in 1938. The school also occupies the adjacent Monroe Hall, as
well as four other buildings spread across campus. The new complex will
house the entire school. SmithGroup, Inc. is the architect of the project;
construction is being managed by Whiting-Turner.
First Data Corporation had previously made a gift to the school’s
building campaign. The firm named a tiered lecture room in memory of
Benjamin Burdetsky, a professor and dean of the school who served on
First Data’s Board of Directors from 1992 until his death in 2000.
Other alumni who have made leadership gifts to SBPM include Raymond
J. Oglethorpe (MSAdmin ’69), president, America Online, Inc.; George
Wellde (MBA ’76), managing partner, Goldman Sachs; and Clifford
M. Kendall (MBA ’65), co-founder of Computer Data Systems, Inc.,
and former president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
