In the crisp autumn air, against a backdrop of buildings under construction, a crowd of well-dressed people swarmed around a stage where some of Ohio State’s most famous alumni stood with scissors in hand.After a quick countdown, the ribbon was cut Wednesday marking the dedication of the first two buildings of the six-building Max M. Fisher College of Business campus, located along Woodruff Avenue on the northern edge of campus.The two buildings that were officially opened, Fisher Hall and Gerlach Hall, are part of a 370,000-square-foot, $120 million that was begun in 1996 and is to be completed in 2001. The ceremony highlighted the buildings’ technological features ranging from satellite uplink capabilities to nearly 3,000 computer ports. Participants from Rotterdam, Holland, Madrid, London, and New York were able to be part of the ceremony via satellite.The dedication honored Fisher an OSU alumnus and Detroit industrialist, and John B. Gerlach, Columbus businessman and founding chairman of the Fisher College campaign. Gerlach died in January 1997.Fisher, Senate candidate and Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, and Leslie H. Wexner, chairman of The Limited Inc. and OSU Board of Trustees chairman emeritus – all OSU alumni – took part in the ribbon cutting along with OSU President William “Brit” Kirwan, business college dean Joseph A. Alutto and Theodore S. Celeste, chairman of the board of trustees.”It’s a great day for the university,” Wexner said. “It enables the business school to be a center of excellence. For the students, it’s a world class facility.” Voinovich said the facility will attract highly-competitive students.”Institutions like this are important because we need centers of excellence,” he said. “The new facilities will help recruit top students and professors.”Voinovich said the new facilities of the college would help attract and keep businesses in Ohio.”The most important economic tool is education,” he said.The completion of Fisher Hall, which houses the college’s administrative and faculty offices, and Gerlach Hall, containing graduate program facilities, is the first phase of the three-phase building project. The second phase, to be completed in 1999, includes the completion of Schoenbaum Hall, the undergraduate program building; the Business Resource Center, containing a library and computing labs; and Pfahl Hall, the executive education building. The end of the third phase in 2001 will be marked by the completion of the last building: the Executive Residence, a 120-room hotel.Fisher donated $20 million, as part of the OSU’ s “Affirm thy Friendship” fund-raising campaign, to start the project in 1993. On Tuesday Wexner announced a $1 million donation to establish the Fisher Council on Global Trade and Technology in honor of Fisher. The council will pay for lectures, seminars and research on international business. Dean Alutto is delighted about the new complex, but hopes the real focus of the college isn’t lost.”In all the excitement over the new buildings, I don’t want the students to be forgot,” Alutto said. “The core of everything we do is the students.”Some students are also excited about the new facilities.”It gives us resources we haven’t had in the past,” said Brian Shelton, a second-year MBA student.Paul Pilmanis, also a second-year MBA student, shares Shelton’s excitement.”An education you use your entire life,” Pilmanis said. “You carry it with you to the day you die.”Undergraduate enrollment in the business college is 2,108, while the graduate enrollment stands at 515. The Fisher College was ranked by U. S. News & World Report among the top 25 at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.