Founded in 1962, Reimagined in 2008, Reborn in 2013
The University of New Hampshire's business school was founded in 1962 as the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. It was created as one of five schools/colleges on the Durham Campus. The future of the school was changed in 2008 with a large gift of $25 million from alumnus Peter T. Paul for a new state-of-the art building. In 2013 the Whittemore School was renamed as the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. With 115,000 square feet, the Paul College Building doubled the size of the former McConnell Hall, increasing undergraduate enrollment capacity from 1,500 to 2,800. Paul College, with now more than 100 faculty members, currently serves more than 3,000 students, offering four undergraduate degree programs, three masters programs, and one Ph.D. program in Economics. It has more than 19,000 alumni with the largest concentration in northern New England, the Greater NY City Area, San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington D.C. The business school was first accredited by the prestigious Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 1994. The most recent continuous improvement review was in October 2013.
The College Philanthropy Built
What did it take to build a new business school? It began with a gift from a single donor, a man with a vision, Peter T. Paul '67. An entrepreneur, philanthropist and graduate in business administration, Paul invested $25 million in 2008 toward building the new business school that now bears his name. The Troy, N.H. native and now California resident is chairman of Headlands Asset Management, LLC, and chairman of The Headlands Foundation, a nonprofit organization he launched in 1995. The momentum grew. Paul harnessed the power of his gift to challenge other alumni and friends of the business school to join in the effort, expanding the circle of giving to more than 2,000 donors. Their names appear throughout the building: at the entry to classrooms and breakout rooms, on the grand stairway and next to offices. Those names are reminders of the people who drove this project, people who had aspiration and a vision—a new building designed to promote a vibrant community—and made it happen. We will always be grateful to this commitment and investment in strengthening our business college and our students' education and experiences today and tomorrow. Including the support given for the new building, the most recent UNH Celebrate 150: The Campaign for UNH culminated in June 2018, raising a total of $51 million to support scholarships, student experiences, innovative programs, research and faculty at Paul College.
