News Article

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Wash., has awarded Gonzaga University $750,000 for a building expansion project for the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

A 25,000-square-foot addition will be built just south of the existing facility, Herak Center. The three-story, $7.5 million facility is being constructed to accommodate two future additions on both its east and west sides to bring its total size to 70,000 square feet. Gonzaga is in the final design phase of this project that includes a skywalk linking Herak with the new addition. Construction of the new building is set to begin in spring 2007.

The new addition will house laboratories and classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, and will be home to the new Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Engineering Program. The T&D Program will be interdisciplinary in that it will include instruction in electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. The program will begin offering classes this spring to undergraduates as well as postgraduate students and engineering professionals employed by power-generating entities
and related industries.

“The grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has given us incredible momentum to reach our goal,” said Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., president of Gonzaga University. “The Trust’s investment in this project testifies to its importance both to this institution and to the entire Inland Northwest region.”

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust also has generously supported Gonzaga University with a number of other grants over the years for capital and research projects in the sciences, the library, and the School of Business Administration, among others.

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust was created in 1975 from the estate of Melvin J. “Jack” Murdock, who was a co-founder of Tektronix, Inc., of Beaverton, Ore. The Trust focuses its grant making on the five Pacific Northwest states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Its mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants that strengthen the region’s educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. Major funding interests are in education and scientific research, with additional grants given in the areas of arts, public affairs, health and medicine, human services, and disability support services.

For more information, contact Carol Bonino, Gonzaga's director of foundation relations, at (509) 323-6394.