Paul H. O'Neill Graduate Center Groundbreaking Ceremony

The 29,000-square-foot, $12 million Paul H. O’Neill Graduate Center at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) will provide the school’s graduate programs with much-needed space for teaching, learning, research, and service activities.

The new three-level structure will adjoin the existing SPEA Building and face Tenth Street, affording the school greater visibility and ease of access. The facility will be dedicated to the specific interests and needs of graduate students, who currently share outgrown space with SPEA’s increasing undergraduate population.

Generous financial support from O’Neill, a former U.S. secretary of the treasury and a 1966 Master of Public Affairs recipient from IU, as well as David Wang, founding chairman and member of the SPEA Dean’s Council, is helping to make the project a reality.

O’Neill has had distinguished careers in government, industry, and the nonprofit sector. In addition to serving as head of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, he spent 13 years as the chairman and chief executive officer of the international aluminum corporation, Alcoa. O’Neill has also been a longtime advocate of improving the quality of the nation’s healthcare systems. He co-founded the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative to drive dramatic quality improvement in healthcare. The nonprofit’s work resulted in a significant reduction in hospital-acquired infection and has become a national model for improving patient care and reducing medical costs.

Wang is the former senior operating partner of Atlas Holdings, the former executive vice president and board member of International Paper, and the former director of corporate development and vice president/general manager of the Union Carbide Corporation. Among his many public service activities, he has served as a trustee of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center, Eisenhower Fellowships, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Naples Philharmonic Center.