The UB Council has approved resolutions to name the auditorium in Slee Hall and two law classrooms in O' Brian Hall after financial benefactors who gave significant donations during a recent campaign.
UB official Jennifer McDonough stressed that Slee Hall itself is not going to have its name changed, as the rumor had been among some students.
"If a building, classroom or a laboratory is named after a benefactor or a community leader you can not by any means take that name away," said McDonough, vice president for University Advancement. "So Slee Hall will still carry its name."
The concert hall inside Slee though will now be called Lippes Hall. Gerald S. Lippes, an attorney and UB Council member, and his recently deceased wife, Sandra F. Lippes, have pledged $1 million to UB. More than two-thirds of that money will go towards the development of an interdisciplinary graduate degree program in arts administration, according to an April press release.
According to UB Today, a UB Alumni Association magazine, the new program would be an alliance between the College of Arts and Sciences, the Law School and the School of Management, in hopes to foster successful management skills in the visual and performing arts among UB graduate students.
According to an April press release, the arts and cultural administration program is expected to launch in September 2005, following approval by SUNY and the state education department.
Slee Hall was originally named after two Buffalo music aficionados who gave $900,000 in the 1950s.
Along with the auditorium, two law classrooms are also getting new names.
According to Law School Dean Nils Olsen, 107 and 108 O'Brian Hall will be named after Harvey L. Kaminski and Gordon Gross, respectively, for funding renovations in the two classrooms.
Kaminski, a 1977 UB graduate and member of the dean's advisory council, gave $250,000 while Gross donated $150,000. Gross is the founder of one of Buffalo's major law firms and serves on several committees for Governor George Pataki.
According to McDonough, ceremonies to christen both the concert hall and classrooms with new signs are in the works.
"We are working on a date right now with the donors," she said. "But I would say anytime between now and the end of the calendar year we can expect to see the signs up."
