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Dateline: 9/16/2009

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Engineering Celebrates 75 Years with Gala Sept. 25



The PACCAR Center for the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Gonzaga's new three-story, 29,000-square-foot PACCAR Center for Applied Science was formally dedicated Oct. 1, 2008. It is connected to the Herak Center for Engineering and Applied Science via sky bridge. Its sophisticated technological laboratories are dedicated to robotics, artificial vision, and transmission and distribution engineering, as well as classrooms and faculty offices. PACCAR, a Fortune 200 global technology company headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., provided the lead gift to build the high-tech facility. Photo Jennifer Raudebaugh.

Gonzaga’s School of Engineering and Applied Science will celebrate its first 75 years with an Anniversary Gala starting at 5 p.m., Sept. 25 in the Carl Pohlad Lobby of the McCarthey Athletic Center. The School will showcase its progress and achievements since it was founded in 1934.

The world was in the throes of the Great Depression at that time and Gonzaga was not immune from woe. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s promise of a “New Deal” included massive public works projects such as the Hoover Dam hydroelectric project, which was completed in 1936. In the state of Washington, widespread interest in hydropower sparked construction of Grand Coulee Dam in July 1933.

Engineers were in great demand and Gonzaga seized the opportunity by establishing the School of Engineering (1934). The School added the computer science program and changed its name in July 2006 to the School of Engineering and Applied Science. However, its emphasis on educating engineering leaders prepared to address emerging societal problems has never changed.

The Gala, which is $35 per person, includes a social hour and dinner, and is preceded by an open house, student and faculty demonstrations, and tours of the Herak and PACCAR centers. Alumni and the public are cordially invited to trace the School’s progress to become one of the nation’s premier undergraduate engineering programs.

“I see so many opportunities for the future of Gonzaga engineering during a critical time for our global society,” said Dean Dennis Horn. Visit the following link to register or contact Whitney Franklin at (509) 313-5970 or via e-mail.

 September @Gonzaga Newsletter