BusinessW e d n e s d a y , J u l y 6 , 2 0 1 6

STEVEN G. SMITH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

The Isenberg School of Management at University of Massachusetts Amherst is planning to break ground next month on an addition and renovation.

Economic principals bolster UMass projectBusiness school dean turns to successful alumni to help fund massive expansion

By Jon ChestoGLOBE STAFF

When Mark Fuller dreamed up an ambitious expansion of UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management, the response from the university leadership was unambiguous: Get in line. A long line.

So the business school dean opted for a different approach. He chose to go to the private sector to fund much of the $62 million project, as a way of ensuring the 70,000-square-foot expansion could get moved up in the queue at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Isenberg has committed to raising $38 million, with the parent university paying for the rest, and donors have already stepped up with $9 million — enough to get construction started next month.

This would be the largest such private fund-raising for a UMass building in the system’s history, easily topping the $26 million raised for a research center that opened at UMass Medical in Worcester in 2002. To pull it off, Fuller will tap into a strong alumni network — a number of alums have gone on to lead major companies — and also likely will rely on revenue from professional education programs that the school offers.

“We want to make the statement that the Isenberg School is a world-class business school,” Fuller said. “It’s a real tipping point for us. We’re taking that next step as a business school to move up into that elite set.”

The pace of fund-raising is expected to accelerate now that school officials have detailed plans to show prospective donors. The largest gifts will allow benefactors to place their names on labs and offices. And, of course, the hunt is on to land the premier donation, one that would secure naming rights to the entire addition for a particularly generous benefactor. (A $6 million donation from Eugene and Ronnie Isenberg, announced in 1997, gave the school its name.)

Fuller cites multiple drivers for the project, a three-story addition that would nearly double the school’s size. The simplest one: Isenberg has simply run out of room. The last expansion, finished in 2002, was a smaller addition, at 52,000 square feet.

In 10 years, the number of undergraduates in the program grew from 2,650 to 3,500, school officials said. Meanwhile the number of master’s students rose from about 600 to about 1,250 in 2015, although the vast majority of the MBA students get their degrees through online classes.

“The school is bursting at the seams,” said Douglas Berthiaume, an alum who is the former chief executive of Milford-based lab equipment maker Waters Corp.

Isenberg’s 100 faculty members and nearly 70 staffers are now spread across three locations; this project would bring them under one roof.

Fuller also wants to come up with more areas that encourage collaboration, rooms that are more reflective of the modern workspace and of new ways of learning. For example, many of the classrooms will be equipped so the school’s online students can watch a lecture remotely, and the amount of interviewing space for job recruiters will be tripled.

Goody Clancy, the Boston architectural firm, and Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group were hired to design the expansion last year. Fuller hopes the expansion can be done by early 2019.

Part of the charge for the architects was to craft something striking and different. The result? A circular structure that could leave a lasting impression on potential recruits and other campus visitors.

“There’s no other building at UMass that’s going to look remotely like this,” said Roger Goldstein, a principal at Goody Clancy. “Isenberg is trying to raise their profile among their peers. It’s an arms race, to the extent they’re trying to attract the best and brightest faculty and students.”

With this project on the horizon, Isenberg leaders have played the long game, by encouraging an increasing number of students to give back to the school — even before they graduate. This year, 39 percent of graduating seniors made cash donations before they left, school officials said, up from 23 percent last year and 18 percent in 2012.

“We have to really work at building that culture of philanthropy,” said Thomas Moliterno, the school’s associate dean of faculty and engagement.

That particularly applies to alumni. Moliterno said his colleagues remind graduates that the value of their diploma has risen significantly

BusinessTHE BOSTON GLOBE WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2016 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/BUSINESS

C

By Damian GardeSTAT

A boy in Pakistan became a locallegend as a street performer in recentyears by traversing hot coals and lanc-

ing his arms with knives with-out so much as a wince.

A thousand miles away, inChina, lived a family wracked by ex-cruciating bouts of inexplicable pain,passed down generation after genera-tion.

Scientists eventually determinedwhat the boy and the family had incommon: mutations in a gene thatfunctions like an on-off switch for ago-ny. Now, a bevy of biotech companies,including Genentech and Biogen, arestaking big money on the idea thatthey can develop drugs that togglethat switch to relieve pain without therisk of addiction.

The gene in question is SCN9A,which is responsible for producing apain-related protein called Nav1.7. Inpatients who feel nothing, SCN9A ispretty much broken. In those who feelsearing random pain, the gene iscranking out far too much Nav1.7.

That discovery raises an obviousquestion: Can blocking Nav1.7 pro-vide relief for many types of pain —and someday, perhaps, replace dan-gerous opioid therapies?

“That’s the dream,” said DavidHackos, a senior scientist at Genen-tech, which has two Nav1.7 treat-ments in the first stage of clinical de-velopment.

It’s too early to make any sweepingpredictions — and, indeed, a Pfizer pilltargeting Nav1.7 has already stum-bled — but the pharma industry clear-ly sees the potential for a blockbuster.

Last year, Biogen paid $200 millionfor a firm called Convergence Pharma-ceuticals to get its hands on someNav1.7 inhibitors.

STAT, Page C7

Is therean on­offswitchfor pain?Gene defect suggestsa potential therapy

By Dan AdamsGLOBE STAFF

State legislators this week will de-bate two modest changes to the state’santiquated and convoluted alcohollaws, with backers — including Gover-nor Charlie Baker — saying the pro-posed Band-Aid fixes will help Massa-chusetts shake its reputation as a diffi-cult place to do business.

Both measures were included Tues-day in a new draft of a sweeping eco-nomic development bill that theHouse of Representatives will consid-er.

One would allow grocery storesthat sell take-home alcohol to alsoserve alcohol at in-store restaurants,after getting permission from the locallicensing board.

The impetus for the measure is theimminent opening at the PrudentialCenter of Eataly, the food emporiumheadlined by celebrity chef MarioBatali,

The other measure would extricatethe popular Nashoba Valley Winery inBolton from a licensing debacle bypermitting local producers to serve al-cohol at restaurants they operate on

LIQUOR LAWS, Page C7

New alcoholrules would aidEataly, winery

INSIDEFINANCE

Just how do the young richmanage their millions. C2

PULSEOFLONGWOOD

New rules call for more freshair for psychiatric patients. C4

STAT

Shirley Leung

Should the Boston Pops Fourth ofJuly fireworks concert on the Es-planade be Lucchino-ized?

Yes, in some circles, LarryLucchino has become a verb.

The former Red Sox CEO helped usher inan era of selling corporate sponsorshipsat Fenway Park that most notably allowedadvertising to return to the Green Mon-ster after a half century. Now the logos ofInfiniti, Foxwood Resort Casino, and oth-ers seem as if they’ve always been there.

Lucchino’s name has come up not somuch to replace David Mugar — who af-ter 43 years took his last bow as theshow’s executive producer on Monday —but rather as a way of thinking of howBoston’s Independence Day celebrationcould appeal to sponsors. While the out-door event is free to the public, it relies ona corporate underwriter, and this year,unable to ink a deal, Mugar had to footthe $2 million bill himself.

Mugar, perhaps proudly, has prevent-ed over-commercialization of the event,but for how much longer? On Monday,

about a half-million spectators gatheredon the Esplanade for the outdoor fire-works concert, but there were only ahandful of places to buy a T-shirt or evena hot dog. When Liberty Mutual spon-sored the event, their presence was un-derstated, with some branding on thejumbotrons and in the programs.

I reported last week that casino mogul

Steve Wynn was taking a serious look atsponsoring our Fourth of July event start-ing in 2017. The Las Vegas billionaire dis-patched a few folks to check out the oper-ation. Spotted among them was his topguy in Massachusetts, Bob DeSalvio, pres-ident of Wynn Boston Harbor, which willbe built in Everett.

LEUNG, Page C6

Fireworks organizer’s shouldconsider the Lucchino approach

BOB DECHIARA/USA TODAYJACK MALEY FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Under LarryLucchino’svision, the wallin left field atFenway Parkbecame asource ofadvertisingrevenue.

By Jon ChestoGLOBE STAFF

When Mark Fullerdreamed up an am-bitious expansionof UMass Am-herst’s Isenberg

School of Management, the responsefrom the university leadership was un-ambiguous: Get in line. A long line.

So the business school dean optedfor a different approach. He chose togo to the private sector to fund muchof the $62 million project, as a way ofensuring the 70,000-square-foot ex-pansion could get moved up in thequeue at the University of Massachu-setts Amherst.

Isenberg has committed to raising$38 million, with the parent universitypaying for the rest, and donors havealready stepped up with $9 million —enough to get construction startednext month.

This would be the largest such pri-vate fund-raising for a UMass buildingin the system’s history, easily toppingthe $26 million raised for a researchcenter that opened at UMass Medicalin Worcester in 2002. To pull it off,Fuller will tap into a strong alumninetwork — a number of alums havegone on to lead major companies —and also likely will rely on revenuefrom professional education programsthat the school offers.

“We want to make the statementthat the Isenberg School is a world-class business school,” Fuller said. “It’sa real tipping point for us. We’re tak-ing that next step as a business schoolto move up into that elite set.”

The pace of fund-raising is expect-ed to accelerate now that school offi-cials have detailed plans to show pro-spective donors. The largest gifts willallow benefactors to place their nameson labs and offices. And, of course, thehunt is on to land the premier dona-tion, one that would secure namingrights to the entire addition for a par-ticularly generous benefactor. (A $6million donation from Eugene andRonnie Isenberg, announced in 1997,gave the school its name.)

Fuller cites multiple drivers for theproject, a three-story addition thatwould nearly double the school’s size.The simplest one: Isenberg has simplyrun out of room. The last expansion,finished in 2002, was a smaller addi-tion, at 52,000 square feet.

In 10 years, the number of under-graduates in the program grew from2,650 to 3,500, school officials said.Meanwhile the number of master’s

ISENBERG SCHOOL, Page C7

Economic principalsbolster UMass projectBusiness school deanturns to successfulalumni to help fundmassive expansion

STEVEN G. SMITH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

The IsenbergSchool ofManagement atUniversity ofMassachusettsAmherst isplanning tobreak groundnext month onan addition andrenovation.

RENDERINGS BY GOODCLANCY

$38 millionPrivate-funding goal for the nextphase of expansion of UMassAmherst’s Isenberg School ofManagement.

$9 millionAmount raised so far from donors.

What’s driving the expansionIsenberg School undergrads

Students in themaster’s program

2,650

600

’05

’05

3,500

1,250

’15

’15

The three-storyaddition, whichwill almostdouble theschool’s size,features agrand entrancethrough anatrium.

Publ

icat

ion

Dat

e: 0

7/06

/201

6

Ad

Num

ber:

Inse

rtion

Num

ber:

Siz

e:C

olor

Typ

e:

Clie

nt N

ame:

Adv

ertis

er:

Sec

tion/

Pag

e/Zo

ne:

Bus

ines

s/C

001/

NZ

Des

crip

tion:

This

E-S

heet

is p

rovi

ded

as c

oncl

usiv

e ev

iden

ce th

at th

e ad

�app

eare

d in

the

Bos

ton

Glo

be o

n th

e da

te a

nd p

age

indi

cate

d. Y

ou m

ay n

ot c

reat

e de

rivat

ive

wor

ks, o

r in

any

way

exp

loit

or re

purp

ose

any

cont

ent.

W E D N E S D A Y, J U L Y 6 , 2 0 1 6 T h e B o s t o n G l o b e Business C7

students rose from about 600 toabout 1,250 in 2015, althoughthe vast majority of the MBAstudents get their degreesthrough online classes.

“The school is bursting atthe seams,” said Douglas Berth-iaume, an alum who is the for-mer chief executive of Milford-based lab equipment makerWaters Corp.

Isenberg’s 100 faculty mem-bers and nearly 70 staffers arenow spread across three loca-tions; this project would bringthem under one roof.

Fuller also wants to come upwith more areas that encouragecollaboration, rooms that aremore reflective of the modernworkspace and of new ways oflearning. For example, many ofthe classrooms will be equippedso the school’s online studentscan watch a lecture remotely,and the amount of interviewingspace for job recruiters will betripled.

Goody Clancy, the Boston ar-chitectural firm, and Den-mark’s Bjarke Ingels Groupwere hired to design the expan-sion last year. Fuller hopes theexpansion can be done by early2019.

Part of the charge for the ar-chitects was to craft somethingstriking and different. The re-sult? A circular structure thatcould leave a lasting impressionon potential recruits and othercampus visitors.

“There’s no other building atUMass that’s going to look re-motely like this,” said RogerGoldstein, a principal at GoodyClancy. “Isenberg is trying toraise their profile among their

uISENBERG SCHOOLContinued from Page C1

peers. It’s an arms race, to theextent they’re trying to attractthe best and brightest facultyand students.”

With this project on the ho-rizon, Isenberg leaders haveplayed the long game, by en-couraging an increasing num-ber of students to give back tothe school — even before theygraduate. This year, 39 percentof graduating seniors madecash donations before they left,school officials said, up from 23percent last year and 18 per-cent in 2012.

“We have to really work atbuilding that culture of philan-thropy,” said Thomas Moliter-no, the school’s associate dean

of faculty and engagement.That particularly applies to

alumni. Moliterno said his col-leagues remind graduates thatthe value of their diploma hasrisen significantly in the pastdecade or so as the schoolclimbed in two major businessschool rankings.

David Fubini, an alum andformer McKinsey & Co. execu-tive who now teaches at Har-vard Business School, said theschool’s physical facilities sim-ply haven’t kept pace with theimprovements seen in the fac-ulty and student body over theyears.

“It would be like an athletewho doesn’t have the right ath-

letic facility within which toplay their game,” said Fubini, amember of the UMass system’sboard of trustees.

Fubini is among the keyplayers of the “UMass Rising”campaign, an effort to raisemore than $300 million for theentire campus, one that public-ly launched in early 2013. Thatcampaign, which officially end-ed last week, has raised morethan $350 million, includingthe $9 million that has beenearmarked for the Isenberg, ac-cording to school officials.

It isn’t always easy. Manypotential contributors to publicuniversities such as UMass Am-herst believe the state will pay

for the vast majority of expens-es, Fubini said.

“That’s a perception prob-lem we’ve got to overcome,” hesaid.

Berthiaume, the former Wa-ters Corp. chief executive, saidstate funding isn’t enough toget Isenberg into the top tier ofbusiness schools: “If you wantto aspire higher, you have tohave an active and successfulphilanthropic process.”

That said, Berthiaumeknows the school has come along way since he graduated in1971.

“A number of us alwaysjoked,” Berthiaume said, “andsaid it would be very hard for usto get into the school today ver-sus when we went to the schoolin the ’60s and early ’70s.”

Jon Chesto can be reached atjon.chesto@globe.com.

Amgen is in the early stageswith a similar project.

And Purdue Pharma, thecontroversial maker of opioidtherapy OxyContin, launched ajoint venture last year specifi-cally focused on Nav1.7 drugs.

Each is betting that this nov-el approach to pain relief couldupend the standard of care forchronic aches, which are nowoften treated with weak anti-inflammatories like ibuprofenor with opioids, which bring se-rious side effects and the poten-tial for abuse.

Opioid prescriptions havemore than quadrupled since2009, according to the Centersfor Disease Control and Preven-tion. Opioid abuse kills about30,000 Americans each year,according to the agency, andabout half of those deaths re-sult from therapies that areprescribed.

“There’s a tremendous needfor innovative, effective, andsafe treatment modalities,” saidDr. Jianguo Cheng, vice presi-dent of scientific affairs at theAmerican Academy of PainMedicine. “If it’s truly effective,it could be revolutionary.”

But it’s early days yet forNav1.7, and investigators havemuch to prove before anyonecan pencil in billion-dollarsales.

“Irrespective of how goodthe target is, it’s going to betough sailing,” said Dr. StephenWaxman, a professor of neurol-ogy at Yale Medical School andWest Haven Veterans AffairsMedical Center.

Side effects, for instance,will need to be closely scruti-nized, Waxman said. The pain-free patients born with faultySCN9A genes are otherwisepretty much normal, but noone really knows what will hap-pen to healthy patients whentheir Nav1.7 is blocked. Only asizable clinical trial can deter-mine for sure, Waxman said.

On top of that, it’s hard toknow when pain drugs areworking. Many fields of drugdevelopment rely on biomark-ers, measurable reactions thattell researchers whether theirefforts are having an effect. Inchronic pain, no such stan-dards exist, Waxman said —forcing scientists to use less re-liable measures like patientsurveys.

Then there’s the problem ofplacebo effect. High among themajor impediments to develop-ing new pain treatments is thesudden, baffling rise in sugarpill efficacy. Last year, research-ers in Canada surveyed paintrials over 23 years and discov-ered that while active drugsperformed pretty much thesame, placebos grew more andmore effective.

And the Nav1.7 field alreadyhas at least one clinical disap-pointment on the books.

A pill tested by Pfizer didwell in patients with inheritederythromelalgia, the geneticcondition found in the Chinesefamily, but had little effect ondental pain. A later study test-ing the same pill on nerve painrelated to diabetes was similar-ly disappointing, and Pfizerquietly shelved the effort lastyear.

“It’s a frustrating area,” saidDouglas Krafte, who worked onthe program. “The science hasbeen so fascinating, and thedrug discovery has been chal-lenging.”

Krafte, who is now the chiefscientist at the pharma con-tractor Icagen, believes there’splenty reason to be optimisticthat Nav1.7 will pan out. It’sjust a matter of finding theright way to approach it.

“This is just part of the pro-cess of making a new kind ofpain drug,” said Genentech’sHackos.

“It’s one that may take years,but we’re making a lot of prog-ress.”

Damian Garde can be reachedat damian.garde@statnews.com. Follow him onTwitter @damiangarde. FollowStat on Twitter @statnews.

uSTATContinued from Page C1

their farms.“There’s a market for these

types of establishments, and it’simportant that we try to mod-ernize the laws that we havehere to accommodate that,”said Paul McMorrow, directorof policy and communicationsat Baker’s Executive Office ofHousing and Economic Devel-opment. “Our priority is tosend the signal to businessesthat we want to create an envi-ronment here in Massachusettsthat’s conducive to investmentand growth.”

Eataly, a $20 million Italianfood market and multi-restau-rant complex under construc-tion in the former Pru foodcourt, plans to sell take-homealcohol in its market and servewine and other drinks in its res-taurants. In Massachusetts, re-tailers are not allowed to doboth.

Adam Saper, Eataly’s chieffinancial officer, cautioned thathe would need to review thespecific legislative language butcheered the spirit of the bill.

“Anything leading in this di-rection is good,” he said. “Clear-ly, our business model wouldbenefit from it. This works inmany other states.”

Still, Saper said, the compa-ny is moving forward as if thebill will not pass. Eataly is con-sidering physically separatingor subleasing its planned take-home alcohol market to anoth-er company to sidestep the cur-rent prohibition on dual licens-es.

State officials said local gro-cery stores might also take ad-vantage of the measure if it ispassed. A spokeswoman forWegmans, a New York-basedsupermarket chain that recent-ly expanded into Massachu-setts, was enthusiastic.

“We support this bill be-cause it could allow us to buildin-store restaurants, which arevery popular with our custom-ers in other states,” said thespokeswoman, Valerie Fox.

The measure would applyonly to stores that gt more thanhalf of their revenue from sell-ing groceries, which would ex-clude conventional packagestores. The cap on the numberof liquor licenses a single own-er can hold would not change.Currently, grocery chains maysell alcohol at a maximum ofseven locations; by law thatnumber will increase to nine in2020.

The second measure wouldexplicitly permit dozens offarmers who produce either

uLIQUOR LAWSContinued from Page C1

wine, beer, or distilled spirits tosimultaneously hold a licenseto make and pour alcohol onthe farms’ premises, and a sec-ond one to serve those drinks atan on-site restaurant.

(The on-farm restaurantswould be barred from servingalcohol made elsewhere.)

This change, authored bythe office of Treasurer DeborahGoldberg, which oversees thestate’s alcohol regulators, is adirect response to an uproarover the status of Nashoba Val-ley Winery.

The picturesque farm makeswine, beer, and spirits anddraws thousands of visitors forapple picking and alcohol tast-ings. But earlier this year, theAlcoholic Beverages Control

Commission told Nashoba itwould have to choose betweenits restaurant pouring licenseand the three licenses it has formaking and serving wine, beer,and spirits — even though theagency had granted Nashobaall four licenses in each of thepast 13 years.

Nashoba’s owner, Rich Pelle-tier, sued the ABCC, saying itsdecision would force him toclose the restaurant and lay offnearly 50 workers.

Goldberg’s office was al-ready at work on a legislativeremedy when a frustrated Bak-er sounded off, saying he sup-ported the farm and threaten-ing to intervene. The gover-nor’s office proposed similarlegislation, but lawmakers ulti-mately adopted Goldberg’s ver-sion.

The treasurer said Tuesdaythat she was grateful the Houseleadership is moving quickly.Pelletier has indicated hewould welcome the measure’spassage.

Also among the measures

the House leadership added tothe economic bill is languagethat would eliminate an ob-scure law: a ban on stores sell-ing alcohol on the Monday af-ter Christmas in years when the

holiday falls on a Sunday.

Dan Adams can be reached atdaniel.adams@globe.com.Follow him on Twitter@Dan_Adams86.

The huntfor a wayto turnoff pain

Alcohol measures would aid winery, Eataly

Business dean turns to alumni for expansion

STEVEN G. SMITH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Zac Broughton gave directions to a new student in front of the Isenberg School ofManagement, where enrollment has substantially grown in the last decade.

‘Our priorityis to send thesignal tobusinesses that wewant to create anenvironment herein Massachusettsthat’s conducive toinvestment andgrowth.’PAUL MCMORROWExecutive Office of Housingand Economic Development

‘Isenberg is tryingto raise theirprofile amongtheir peers. It’s anarms race, to theextent they’retrying to attractthe best andbrightest facultyand students.’ROGER GOLDSTEIN of GoodyClancy, an architectural firm

COMMMERCIAL& INDUSTRIAL

OFFICE SPACE

WOBURN, local owner of-fers ALL SIZES commercial,office, R&D, distrib, and labspaces at I-93/I-95. Simple,hassle-free leases. 1 to 5 yrs.Call/text Ed 781-983-0113.

WOBURN, $199/mo officeincl utils & parking. Great locnear I-93 & I-95 & WoburnMall. Contact Ed, 781-983-0113, eas@cummings.com

In Memoriam

Robert B. Fraser1928 - 2016

Goodwin mourns the loss of our formerChairman and Managing Partner,

Bob Fraser, a corporate lawyer with alifelong passion for public education

and the arts in Boston, the city that he loved.

Selfless, subtle and principled, anda great teacher and listener,

Bob left a legacy of devotion to family,community and Goodwin,

the firm he led for over a decade.

We will miss him dearly.

Publ

icat

ion

Date

: 07

/06/

2016

Ad N

umbe

r: In

serti

on N

umbe

r: Si

ze:

Colo

r Typ

e:

Clie

nt N

ame:

Adve

rtise

r:Se

ctio

n/Pa

ge/Z

one:

Busi

ness

/C00

7/NZ

Desc

riptio

n:Th

is E

-She

et is

pro

vide

d as

con

clus

ive

evid

ence

that

the

ad�a

ppea

red

in th

e Bo

ston

Glo

be o

n th

e da

te a

nd p

age

indi

cate

d. Y

ou m

ay n

ot c

reat

e de

rivat

ive

work

s, o

r in

any

way

expl

oit o

r rep

urpo

se a

ny c

onte

nt.

(#S023439) Copyright © 2016 Globe Newspaper Company. Reprinted with permission. For subscriptions to The Boston Globe, please call 1-888-MY-GLOBE. Visit us online at www.bostonglobe.com.

For more information about reprints from The Boston Globe, visit PARS International Corp. at www.globereprints.com.RENDERINGS BY BIGL

STEVEN G. SMITH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Zac Broughton gave directions to a new student in front of the Isenberg School of Management, where enrollment has substantially grown in the last decade.

in the past decade or so as the school climbed in two major business school rankings.

David Fubini, an alum and former McKinsey & Co. executive who now teaches at Harvard Business School, said the school’s physical facilities simply haven’t kept pace with the improvements seen in the faculty and student body over the years.

“It would be like an athlete who doesn’t have the right athletic facility within which to play their game,” said Fubini, a member of the UMass system’s board of trustees.

Fubini is among the key players of the “UMass Rising” campaign, an effort to raise more than $300 million for the entire campus, one that publicly launched in early 2013. That campaign, which officially ended last week, has raised more than $350 million, including the $9 million that has been earmarked for the Isenberg, according to school officials.

It isn’t always easy. Many potential contributors to public universities such as UMass Amherst believe the state will pay for the vast majority of expenses, Fubini said.

“That’s a perception problem we’ve got to overcome,” he said.Berthiaume, the former Waters Corp. chief executive, said state

funding isn’t enough to get Isenberg into the top tier of business schools: “If you want to aspire higher, you have to have an active and successful philanthropic process.”

That said, Berthiaume knows the school has come a long way since he graduated in 1971.

“A number of us always joked,” Berthiaume said, “and said it would be very hard for us to get into the school today versus when we went to the school in the ’60s and early ’70s.”

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com.

(#S023439) Copyright © 2016 Globe Newspaper Company. Reprinted with permission. For subscriptions to The Boston Globe, please call 1-888-MY-GLOBE. Visit us online at www.bostonglobe.com.

For more information about reprints from The Boston Globe, visit PARS International Corp. at www.globereprints.com.