Harvard Business School Breaks Ground on Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center

Rendering of the future Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, designed by Goody Clancy/Courtesy of Harvard Business School

On April 24, 2014, Harvard Business School broke ground for the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, a 90,000-square-foot executive education center that will house meeting rooms, classrooms, and office and dining facilities. The building will be located where Kresge Hall currently stands, after demolition of that structure is completed. This is the first building on the Harvard Business School campus named for a woman, and the first to be named after an American of Chinese descent.

This facility will be constructed in part with a $40 million gift from the Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao and Family Foundation, in honor of the late Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who was the matriarch of the Chao family. Four of her daughters, the Honorable Elaine Chao, M.B.A. ’79, Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush; Grace Chao, M.B.A. ’78; May Chao, M.B.A. ’85; and Angela Chao ’95, M.B.A. ’01, attended Harvard Business School’s MBA program. This gift also established the Ruth Mulan Chu and James S. C. Chao Family Fellowship, which will assist students with financial needs.

Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included University President Drew Faust, Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Elaine Chao, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin M. Rudd, and the Honorable Cui Tiankai, China’s Ambassador to the United States. Nohria said that the Chao Center would act as a hub in which executives, students, and faculty members could convene and collaborate.

The building is scheduled for completion in 2016.

For more information on the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, visit: http://www.hbs.edu/news/releases/Pages/ruth-mulan-chu-chao-center-groundbreaking.aspx

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