A $15 million donation from trustee emeritus Irving Schneider made in July 2003 will nearly double the size of The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, creating much needed space for the expanding school and a new, state-of-the-art facility."Heller has been in need of new facilities for years," Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic affairs and former Heller graduate, Marty Krauss '81 said. "This new building will ease the pressures that have been mounting inexorably over the years."

Jack Shonkoff, the Heller School Dean, added that this significant donation will put the Heller School on par with other top educational research institutions throughout the nation.

"The new building will be a state-of-the-art building with classrooms, meeting rooms and technology used in teaching," Shonkoff said. "It will be a magnificent facility for teaching, research and important political work that will also have significant policy work."

The donation will additionally aid in providing more space for undergraduate education. In a school with 200 to 300 graduate students, the school will now be more available to undergraduates once the construction is complete in 2005. Especially with the newly created Health: Science, Society and Policy major/minor, students will have more access to social and policy classes offered through The Heller School.

"I think that once the undergraduate (Health: Science, Society and Policy major/minor) program is on the radar screen, the potential to help undergraduates will really take off," said Heller graduate student in Social Policy, Brooklyn Brown-Northrup.

Brown-Northrup added that the donation will also help bring in keynote speakers who, she sid, will be a valuable resource to students.

"It brings in a lot of human capital and allows students to have access to these people," Brown-Northrup said.

According to Daniel Feldman, associate vice president for planning, design and construction in a Sept. 15 Brandeis press release, the University is now in the architectural selection process and expects to choose a firm by next month. Construction is scheduled to begin in Aug. 2004, and the new facility will open its doors to students and faculty in Sept. 2005. The building will be a separate entity, but remain attached to the Heller/Brown building.

Irving Schneider, whose daughter, Mindy graduated from Brandeis in 1975, has had a long relationship with Brandeis dating back to 1978 with his donation that created the Schneider Institute for Health and Policy, Heller's largest and most renowned research center.

"The donation) is a reflection of his pride in the accomplishments in the Schneider Institute and his confidence in the future of The Heller School," Shonkoff said.

Shonkoff said that Schneider's donation will have a large impact on the school and quality of education.

"Schneider is) a deeply caring man and he cares very much to see that his gifts are making a difference," Shonkoff said. "We have an important responsibility to make the most of this gift and his investment. It's really inspiring for the students and faculty at the school."

The gift is a way to start the 21st century, added Krauss.

"The confidence that this gift represents-you can really feel it, people are so excited," Krauss said.

Irving Schneider was unable to be interviewed for this article.