University of Alabama to raise $4M for business school building renovation

With a $2 million commitment by alumnus Ari Deshe and his wife Ann, the University of Alabama has launched a $4 million fundraising campaign to renovate Mary Hewell Alston Hall, home of the Culverhouse College of Business.

UA officials say the campaign will include the modernization of the more than 30-year-old building, providing UA business faculty and students with top-notch facilities.

The Deshes’ commitment includes $1.1 million to the Alston Hall renovation, $400,000 to scholarships for first-generation business students and $500,000 to the Bloom Hillel Student Center, a gathering place for Jewish students at UA.

“Through the steadfast support and generosity of the Deshe family, we will continue to provide cutting-edge facilities, resources, technology and scholarships that shape the futures of business and rising business leaders,” UA President Stuart R. Bell said in a news release.

The Alston Hall renovation project will include a complete overhaul of its fourth floor, home to the dean’s office suite, along with teams devoted to development, alumni and corporate relations and marketing and communications. The plan for the rest of the building includes the addition of collaboration spaces and a revision of the ground floor commons area and the lobby.

Pending UA System board of trustee approval, Alston Hall renovations are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2023 and be finished by fall 2023.

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Ari Deshe, who was an international student from Israel, graduated from UA with a bachelor’s degree in insurance in 1977 and a master’s degree in finance in 1978. In 1993, he founded SafeAuto Insurance, a Columbus, Ohio-based auto insurance company that served 18 states. He sold the company to the Allstate Corp. in 2021.

Deshe said he chose to study at UA to learn insurance and finance, areas of study which he said were not available at the time in Israel.

"My father was also in the insurance field, and he was very pleased when he found out that there was a world-renowned insurance professor at UA, Dr. John Bickley,” Deshe said. “During my first two years at the university, the local Jewish community was very kind to me and to my Israeli friends, who all lived at the Hillel House for free.

“I’m very appreciative of all that the University of Alabama has done for me. I feel very strongly that the university really helped to advance my career and gave me the tools to understand the insurance business. I’m very fortunate to be in a position to give back,” he said.

After a recent visit to UA, Ari Deshe saw an immediate need to help renovate Alston Hall.

Pending approval by the UA System board of trustees, the Deshes’ $2 million gift will name the dean’s suite and conference room and parlor on the fourth floor of Alston Hall while providing key funding to support renovations throughout.

"Alston Hall is, for all intents and purposes, the heart of the Culverhouse College of Business,” said Kay Palan, dean of the school. “It’s where our alumni gather for our fall tailgate picnics, where students converge for lectures, and where many of our faculty and staff work.

“On behalf of the entire team here at Culverhouse, we are grateful to the Deshe family for helping initiate a much-needed renovation of the building,” she said.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: University of Alabama launches $4M campaign to renovate Alston Hall