Redwood City‚ Calif. – Oct. 11‚ 2017 In the Spring of 2020‚ the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will become the new home to the highly innovative Siebel Center for Design‚ due to the generous support of the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation‚ which provided a $25 million gift to enable the project.
“The Siebel Center was entirely Tom’s idea and initiative. Tom Siebel’s leadership has been crucial to our success for decades‚ but his vision has been just as important‚” said Robert J. Jones‚ Illinois’ Chancellor. “Every student and faculty member benefits from understanding and using design thinking‚ regardless of their area of expertise or future career. Tom knows that innately. He advocates for that constantly. And he is driving that—aggressively.”
The Siebel Center for Design will be the hub of a cross-campus‚ multidisciplinary effort to harness design thinking in teaching‚ research‚ and public engagement. The center’s mission is to bring the campus together through a cyber-physical network: faculty and students‚ in spaces throughout the campus‚ connecting with communities and challenges around the world. “The Center presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to put our University on the map as the premier location for rich design-thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration‚” said Andreas Cangellaris‚ Dean of the College of Engineering‚ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
“Think about the problems we need to solve in the next 50 years. Think about the issues related to the environment‚ the economy‚ health care‚ population‚ food‚ water. Great institutions like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign need to play an important role in an economy that’s unimaginable today‚” Siebel said.
“Illinois is home to a thriving entrepreneurial community and with The Siebel Center for Design we’re able to bring together bright minds from the great state of Illinois and around the world to work together to create and innovate for a better tomorrow‚ a better Illinois‚ and a better world‚” said Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. “Tom Siebel has been an important friend‚ change agent‚ and role model for the University of Illinois for decades‚” Rauner continued.
The Siebel Center for Design will be an iconic new 60‚000 square foot facility‚ designed by world-famous architect Peter Bohlin. The 225‚000 sq. ft. in the Engineering School was enabled by a previous grant from The Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation.
