Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall makes debut

Steinberg Hall/Dietrich Hall opened its doors to students for the first time yesterday, after two years and $16.5 million in renovation and expansion. 

The new headquarters of the Wharton School will be dedicated tomorrow between 4 and 6 p.m. Saul Steinberg, the chairman of the Reliance Group Holdings, Inc., and principal contributor to the project, and New York Stock Exchange President John Phelan will speak at the opening ceremonies. 

The event will showcase Steinberg Hall, the three-story addition to/Dietrich Hall that opens up into an expansive four-level brick atrium. 

The addition features modernized faculty and administrative offices, new classrooms, specially designed seminar rooms and student lounges.

Dietrich Hall, the building which served as home for Wharton’s undergraduate department since its construction in 1952, was vacated in December 1980 for the renovations. 

Wharton officials and students yesterday praised the new complex while deriding the old Dietrich Hall. 

“It was a professional disaster,” Wharton School Associate Dean Ronald Frank said about Dietrich Hall yesterday. “[The new building] is finally up to snuff for what a first-class business school should be.” 

While the official ceremonies for the new Steinberg Hall/Dietrich Hall will take place tomorrow, the building has been occupied for a month. Administrative and faculty offices were moved from the temporary Wharton School headquarters in Centenary Hall and into the new building. 

Classes were held in Steinberg Hall/Dietrich Hall yesterday morning on schedule, to the general satisfaction of students and professors.

Wharton junior Lenny Duran said he feels the new facility is attractive, “but not all it could be.” He said the atrium reminds him of a “brick alley.”

Other students said they liked the arrangement of the rooms in the building, as well as the modern look of the new structure.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to get around without having to go up and down steps and in and out of buildings,” Wharton senior Jeff Goldberg said yesterday.

Wharton Assistant Dean for External Affairs Karen Freedman said yesterday that tomorrow’s ceremony is open to all members of the University community. A dinner for major contributors and Trustees, who will be at the University for their first meeting of the year, will be held Thursday night in the new atrium, she added. 

Tomorrow’s extravaganza will be highlighted by the dedication of the Steinberg Cafe, a cafeteria on the ground floor of the building, and the restored New York Stock Exchange post in the lower court. 

Two Wharton alumni donated the post, which they held in New York before the exchange became computerized. The stock exchange also assumed some of the expense in moving and restoring the post, which was held in storage for the school until the new building was finished. 

The alumni, Donald Stott and Michael Tarnopol, will also conduct a “role-playing” presentation with students.at the ceremony to show what happens at the post, Freedman said.

Wharton Associate Dean Eric van Merkensteijn said yesterday that the the first priority of the restoration was increased space for faculty members.

“That was satisfied to the ultimate degree,” van Merkensteijn said. He added that he hopes the more efficient and spacious offices in the building will increase research projects among faculty members and attract new professors to the Wharton School.

Assistant Finance Professor Michael Smirlock said his new office provides him with “ample” space. 

“It’s nice,” he said. “It’s not as big as the one in Centenary, but it’s conducive to a good research atmosphere. 

One professor, who asked that his name not be printed, expressed concern that the noise level in the lobby may disturb faculty members whose offices overlook the area.

The second objective in the massive renovation was to improve the quality of the classrooms, to entice prospective business students, van Merkensteijn said. 

The result is more classrooms with fewer seats, which provided f or smaller, more intimate classes, he added.

Many rooms have a horseshoe-shaped seating design, which improves case studies and discussions, and resembles the classroom structure of Vance Hall, several professors and students said. 

In addition, the building’s empty corners have been converted into “break-out” rooms and meeting places for small groups and students who want to study late at night. The building will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Van Merkensteijn stressed that students should try to exit the building from the main entrance on Locust Walk, for security reasons.

“After hours, students are goinig to have to help make the buildings safe place to work in,” van Merkensteijn said. “Otherwise, we-H have to close it like all the other buildings on campus.” 

The main atrium is designed to be a gathering place for students, and perhaps even a “bad weather alternative to Locust Walk,” van Merkensteijn said.

Wharton School officials said the new building is a morale-booster for the school, giving students 'a stronger sense of unity and centralization.

“You could pretty much live in this building,” van Merkenstefjn laughed. “It’s meant to be that way.” 

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