Ryan S. Brandenberg/Temple University

Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive of Dell Inc., visited Temple’s Fox School of Business on Monday, Oct. 5.

Dell was greeted at an informal reception with 35 to 40 faculty members and university officials before he met with a select group of Fox School Management Information Systems students.

A large question-and-answer session followed in the auditorium of Alter Hall, the new state-of-the-art home of the Fox School.

An estimated 300 people gathered for the discussion, while an overflow crowd watched a live simulcast of Dell’s appearance from Alter Hall’s first-floor student lounge.

Dell founded his company in 1984 with $1,000. Eight years later, he became the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company, according to his official biography. In March, Forbes ranked Dell as the 25th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $12.3 billion. The 44-year-old Dell was the youngest person to make the top 25. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, 53, topped the list.

Dell also visited Temple in August 2006 to tour the TECH Center, a 75,000-square-foot technology building that features Dell computers.

Timothy O’Rourke, Temple’s vice president of Computer and Information Services and a Fox faculty member, facilitated Dell’s visit.