Special Report: A Campaign of Transformation
By Robert Gunther
The most successful campaign in business school
history did more than raise over $445 million
dollars from more than 23,000 donors. It
transformed the campus, academic and research
programs, individual lives, and the Wharton community.
On August 24, 2003, an unseasonably warm
and sunny day in San Francisco, Jon M.
Huntsman, W'59, H'96, looked out across the
audience gathered in the Herbst Theatre for the historic
graduation of the first West Coast class of the Wharton
MBA for Executives (WEMBA) program. "This is a bit
of an emotional experience for me today, as I know it is
for you," Huntsman told the graduates, their families,
Wharton faculty and administrators as he stood on
the stage. "It was almost 50 years ago today, right next
door that I, as a senior in high school, was called by Mr. Zellerbach to come and be interviewed for a scholarship
to the Wharton School. I was grateful to be sent to the
Wharton School, grateful for those wonderful men and
women who made that privilege and opportunity possible.
Today I am very proud that we have Wharton West."
Scott Brubaker, WG'03, a graduating
WEMBA student and San Francisco
resident, sat in the front row of the 928-seat recital hall. He had joined the
Wharton community just two years
earlier as part of this first Wharton
West class. "I knew I wanted to
get my MBA degree," he said.
"When I found out about the
Wharton program in San
Francisco, it was a simple decision
from my standpoint. In the
two years I've been there, I've really
watched Wharton West establish itself with a very strong
link to the Philadelphia campus. I didn't feel like we were
a satellite program. We were really a part of the Wharton
program."
A few minutes after Huntsman's speech, Brubaker
stood on the stage as a representative of the WEMBA
West Class Gift Committee to present an oversized check
to Dean Patrick Harker for more than $100,000 from a
record 88 percent of his class. "On behalf of the future
generations of students that will benefit for years to come
from your generosity, I thank you," Harker said.
While this moment in San Francisco was a personal
one for Brubaker, Huntsman, Harker and those present,
in a broader sense, it also was a celebration of the confluence
of forces that came together in the most successful
fundraising campaign in the history of the Wharton
School — or of any other business school. The Wharton
West program, which didn't exist when the campaign
started seven years ago, is just one of many ways that
the School has been transformed through Wharton's
Campaign for Sustained Leadership. The $445 million
raised in the campaign was the result of alumni giving
back, students reaching forward, and entrepreneurial
ideas, such as Wharton West, becoming a reality. In this
report, we look at some of the transformations that have
taken place — where we have come, what these new
resources have allowed us to do, and the opportunities we
can now see from the broad windows of the eighth floor
of Jon M. Huntsman Hall.
- A Watershed Moment
- The Wharton World Tour
- A Chance meeting at the
Hardware store
- An Education Cannot Be
Confiscated
- The Underdog
- A View from the Top
- Transforming Lives:
Appreciating the Past,
Investing in the Future
- Transforming Research
and Teaching:
Promoting Intellectual Entrepreneurship
- Transforming Geography: Expanding Wharton's
Global Vision
- Transforming Knowledge:
Endowed Professorships
Recognize Academic Excellence
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