Friday Factoid: Connecting Through Stern’s Concourse Project

In December 2009, more than 500 NYU Stern alumni gathered for the Ninth Annual Stern Alumni Ball with something special to commemorate—the Concourse Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony celebrating the newly renovated concourse levels of Tisch Hall.  The renovation project began in 2008, when Stern embarked on a multiyear, $35 million transformation of the school’s physical space.  Known as the “Concourse Project,” it is the most significant renovation of the school’s facilities since the graduate and undergraduate programs were united at Washington Square. Funded by alumni such as John Paulson (BS ’78) and Stewart A. Satter (MBA ’82), as well as corporate partners and other benefactors, the project not only physically connects the school’s three buildings—Tisch Hall, Henry Kaufman Management Center and Shimkin—but also improves aesthetics and experience for both graduate and undergraduate students by introducing natural light through a central stairway that creates a three-story atrium, new floor-to-ceiling windows and more public gathering space. An improved, upgraded MBA student lounge, expanded club space and new state-of-the-art classrooms are also part of the renovation. Gone are the dark, cinder block-lined hallways of old; in are new, modern open spaces that allow students to congregate, share ideas and connect!