Breaking Ground on Mulva Hall

Key donors celebrate visionary campus development and honor Miriam and Jim Mulva

In a room overlooking the bustling construction site that will be Mulva Hall, more than 100 of the project’s staunchest supporters met on April 10 to celebrate groundbreaking on the new 17-story facility for The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The building will gather undergraduate classrooms, academic department suites and faculty offices, research centers, convening spaces, and the dean’s office under one roof.

The ceremony at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center was scheduled in conjunction with Texas McCombs’ semiannual Dean’s Advisory Council meeting. Preparation and excavation for construction began last fall, and the building is slated to open for classes in Fall 2028.

Jim Davis, UT’s interim president, addressed the audience of key philanthropists for Mulva Hall, a donor-led UT project with the largest total philanthropic sum ever raised. “Place matters,” Davis said. “And here we are now, creating a new place where we’ll have incredible experiences for our students.”

Caitlin Mullaney, Texas McCombs’ chief operating officer, introduced speakers Vandana Nayak, managing director of architectural firm Perkins&Will’s Dallas office, and Jim Mulva, BBA ’68, MBA ’69, who with his wife, Miriam, pledged $40 million toward Mulva Hall.

Mulva, who served as chief executive officer for ConocoPhillips before his retirement in 2012, thanked the guests for “making it happen” for a school that has meant so much to him and his family. “We believe that we — all of us in this room in particular — have been truly blessed. So, it’s important that we give back to the things that have meaning to us,” Mulva said.

“We have some of the best students in the whole country, in the world, and the best faculty,” he said. “You do have to have the best facilities to attract the faculty, to attract the students, and that is what this is all about.”

His remarks preceded the ceremonial groundbreaking event, culminating in a moment when the guests popped burnt orange confetti cans to honor the Mulvas’ vision.

Davis thanked the audience for their leadership. “Because of the generosity of your families and supporters like the Mulva family, we get to do this great work and open some new doors — literally new doors — for our students,” he said.

“Mulva Hall will be equipped to fully prepare our students to thrive in modern times,” he added. “It will reflect the promise of our time.”

By Judie Kinonen