$2 million gift given to college of engineering

By Joe Johnson
The Collegian

Boeing Co. announced Thursday that it will give the Fresno State College of Engineering $2 million in endowment money to be distributed as scholarships among 20 students.

An endowment is money given to the university to be invested, but never spent. Instead, it will be placed in a fund that gradually creates income on interest, which will then be used as a constant source of scholarship money for students.

According to University Communications, the donation is the largest corporate gift ever given to the university.

“We recognize that if we are going to keep doing the things that we do, then we need to support engineers,” Dan Beck, a Boeing Co. spokesman, said in a telephone interview with The Collegian.

“We particularly liked the opportunity at Fresno State, because it reaches out into a very diverse community in the Central Valley.”

The grant was spearheaded by Sam Iacobellis, a 1952 graduate of Fresno State’s engineering program, which received the 2001 Howard Hughes Memorial Award. Iacobellis approached Boeing Co. about creating the scholarship.

“The scholarship was made in honor of Col. Rick Husband, one of the astronauts who died in the Columbia space shuttle tragedy,” Beck said.

Husband was an alumnus of Fresno State’s mechanical engineering program.

“The story of Rick Husband is a magnificent example for all of our students,” Fresno State President John Welty said at Thursday’s press conference. “At Fresno State, we will always be proud to call him an alumnus.”

Boeing Co. is also one of the major sponsors of National Engineers Week.

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