FSU College of Business building tour
See the inside of classrooms, study rooms and more within the Wertheim Center for Business Excellence, the new College of Business building at FSU.
- Florida State University opened a new five-story building for its College of Business.
- Billionaire Herbert Wertheim donated $65 million, and the school is now named after him.
- Wertheim believes business graduates can help solve the healthcare crisis in the United States.
The new year comes along with a new experience for Florida State University’s College of Business community with the grand opening of the school’s five-story home.
And for billionaire philanthropist Herbert Wertheim – founder and president of the world’s largest optical tints manufacturer Brain Power Incorporated – he says the recent opportunity of donating a transformative $65 million gift to the business school for it to bear his name was a “final solution” within one of his longtime goals as a major donor.
“The business school is my idea of the final solution to healthcare,” Wertheim told the Tallahassee Democrat Jan. 6 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. FSU officials and other stakeholders christened what’s now officially the Herbert Wertheim College of Business and the Wertheim Center for Business Excellence – formerly known as Legacy Hall.
“With the business graduates produced, we’re able to make high-quality healthcare available at a reasonable cost,” Wertheim added. Only business can make that happen. Doctors can’t do it, nurses can’t do it and no one else can do it except business, so this is the solution to helping America’s healthcare crisis, which is that not everyone is able to get the care they need or the quality of the care they need. Quality outcome is an important ingredient, and businesspeople measure quality all the time.”
Within Wertheim’s $65 million gift, $15 million went toward the building’s construction while the remaining $50 million makes up several endowed funds to support College of Business initiatives such as faculty development, student scholarships and professional development opportunities. The Tuesday event came ahead of spring classes starting Jan. 7, where the doors of the new facility will open to a record 10,000-plus students who are expected to enroll in classes this semester.
While the business school’s new home was over a decade in the making since the project started as a 2013 campaign, Wertheim says he initially approached FSU College of Business Dean Michael Hartline six years ago with an interest in making a generous donation.
Wertheim, 86, is well known for his extensive philanthropic giving and has nursing, medical, public health and engineering schools across the country named after him, but FSU’s business school is a first of its category. Wertheim is also a part of the 2025 Forbes 400 List, where he was ranked No. 389 in 2025.
The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native grew up in poverty and dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to join the U.S. Navy. He earned his bachelor’s degree in optical engineering and doctoral degree in optometry from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee.
“For me to be standing here in front of all of you in an effort to say thank you to America for allowing me to have an opportunity to give back, it’s not the finances – it’s my heart that I give you,” Wertheim said while giving remarks Tuesday. “Education has made the difference in my life, and I want it to make a difference in so many other people’s lives.”
With Wertheim being stylishly known for almost always rocking a red hat as a staple part of his ensembles, several university officials were given their own red hats to match him, which they all wore while signing documents Tuesday to make the $65 million gift official.
Besides the university’s senior leadership team, trustees, student leaders, faculty and staff, other individuals in attendance were Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Florida’s Commissioner of Education Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas, Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey and county commissioners Nick Maddox and Brian Welch.
FSU President Richard McCullough described Wertheim as the “quintessential example of the American dream” while sharing remarks. “This gift is a legacy that will live on for generations of future students and leaders,” he said.
FSU business school facility is where ‘students will want to be together’
The Wertheim Center for Business Excellence, located on 402 W. Gaines St., across from the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, is the largest facility on FSU’s campus with 218,000 square feet.
The $160 million facility – with $44 million of the funds coming from private support – has an atrium on the ground floor with chandeliers hanging three stories above it, the Brian and Renee Murphy Forum, a trading room and The Exchange Cafe, which is a dining area with Lucky Goat Coffee and snacks. It also consists of the Gail and Bob Knight Auditorium, which seats 300 people and has a front board comparable to the size of the scoreboard at the Doak Campbell Stadium. The naming came after the couple’s $1.25 million gift to the building.
Throughout the halls are several pieces of original wall art that add a colorful tone to the new space. In addition, the building has over 80 breakout rooms, faculty offices and state-of-the-art classrooms that can seat up to 100 students. It also has spacious lockers for students to store their clothes and belongings in – such as business suits for any interviews in between classes – a career suite with interview rooms and a lounge for recruiters.
FSU student and Tampa native Michael Canizio – a sophomore double majoring in accounting and finance – said the new facility is a big upgrade from the old Rovetta Business Building as it is about 50% larger.
“The old historic building on campus was great, but there was nowhere else for you to go besides classes,” Camizio, 19, told the Democrat. “With the cafe, the 80-plus meeting rooms, the beautiful atrium and everything else, this is really a way of fostering an environment and a space where students will want to be together and collaborate.”
During remarks, Hartline described the facility as the business school’s legacy and home, vowing to use it as a tool to continue the mission of preparing students for success. In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 ranking of undergraduate business programs, FSU’s College of Business came in 51st place, moving up two spots from 2024. Within the business school, the Program in Risk Management & Insurance was ranked No. 2 among the nation’s top public and private RMI programs, and the Real Estate Program was placed at No. 6.
“Just think – tomorrow morning, bright and early, this building is going to come alive,” Hartline said. “Thousands of students are going to walk through this atrium and remark that everything smells absolutely new. We’re going to bask in the glory of that for a few minutes, but then, in the true College of Business fashion, we’re going to get back to the task of preparing those students for the futures they came to receive.”
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
