Boeing's big gift
Fresno Bee 2/23/07
Fresno State President John Welty announced the gift Thursday.
The scholarship program will be named for astronaut Rick Husband, who earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1990 from Fresno State and was the mission commander of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart upon returning from space in 2003.
The program will be called the Husband-Boeing Honors Scholars Program in Engineering at California State University, Fresno.
Five students will get four-year, full-tuition scholarships beginning in the fall of 2008. Twenty students will get scholarships when the program is fully funded in 2011, university officials said.
The program has no end date because it will be financed from investments purchased with Boeing's $2 million gift, university officials said. The Fresno State Foundation, a separate corporation that assists with university fundraising, will invest the money.
Gary Toyama, a California-based Boeing vice president, said the $2 million comes from company profits, and that Boeing has given money to other universities for similar programs. "Almost half of our people are engineers, and there's a big shortage, particularly in California," he said.
"As a result we need to help improve that pipeline" of students.
Toyama credited Fresno State alumnus Sam Iacobellis, who earned an engineering degree in 1952 and had a long career in the aerospace industry, with helping get the $2 million for his alma mater.
Iacobellis, who was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by Fresno State in 2006, said Welty and Peter Smits, vice president of university advancement, came to him with the idea for the scholarship program. Iacobellis said he then approached Boeing.
Iacobellis said the United States needs to turn out more engineers, because they design everything from roads to rockets: "They are the backbone of worldwide commerce."
But in the last decade, the number of high school seniors planning careers in engineering has dropped by more than 35%, according to statistics cited by the university.
The trend looks better at Fresno State.
The number of students enrolled in engineering and construction management programs has increased five of the last six years, now standing at about 1,300.
Andrew Hoff, interim dean of the College of Engineering, said the new scholarship program should help those numbers go higher.