Thoughts on Philanthropy

Ken d’Entremont, BS/ME 1984, now an associate professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, recently published a textbook. “Engineering Ethics and Design for Safety” draws on his years spent managing real-world product-safety efforts and aims to prepare students for ethical decision making in their careers.

William “Bill”

Champion, BS/ChE 1983, was named to Peabody’s board of directors. Previously, he served as principal at Gladiator Mining Group LLC and in several executive management positions at Rio Tinto PLC. His experience in the metals and mining industry ranges across materials, countries and companies.

Ken d’Entremont

1970s

Linda (Headley) Repking, BS/ChE 1975, worked in the oil industry for nearly two decades after graduation, then chose to stay home with her children. She returned to the field in 2006 as a senior design engineer at Jacobs Engineering and was pleasantly surprised to see how many women had since entered the profession. She quit working in 2012 and lives in southern California, where she enjoys gardening, cycling and visiting extended family.

1960s

Richard “Dick” Linda (Headley) Repking visits campus, touring the distillation column in the Harshbarger Building. Edwards, PhD ChE 1964, was the college’s first chemical Byron Garretson, BS/EE 1958, grew engineering PhD recipient. He also up in Phoenix, attending grade school served as associate and acting dean of the and high school with Craig M. Berge, College of Mines, received the U.S. Navy’s after whom a UA Engineering design Purple Heart for his service in World War program is named. After his college II and helped bring the UA into the PAC- graduation, he worked for the Salt River 12 Conference. He celebrated his 100th Project, earned a master’s degree, and birthday in 2020. worked internationally with companies E-Systems and Aramco. Since his 1950s retirement in 1995, he has done some contract work and now lives near San Robert M. Jones, BS/ME 1958, retired Antonio, where he stays active playing from his own company, Vibrometrics, tennis and basketball. in 2019. It was his fourth retirement, after leaving the U.S. Air Force in 1979, the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1990 and SKF Reliability Systems in 2001. He has published two engineering books and now lives in Las Vegas, where he enjoys astrophotography. Four retirements later, Robert M. Jones is enjoying astrophotography.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Thank you to all the people who wrote in to help identify the photo on the back cover of our last issue. It pictures Martha Whitaker, MS 1993 and PhD 2000 in hydrology and water resources, collecting data about soil moisture near Tombstone, Arizona.

“Why should we care about soil moisture? Because it is an important and sensitive input to climate change models,” Whitaker said. “My MS research helped researchers better understand soil moisture variability (on a small scale), in comparative contrast to satellite data.” Whitaker is now an assistant professor of practice in the UA Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences.

Donors are saying diversity is good for the bottom line, and it’s the right thing to do.

THE DEVELOPMENT and alumni relations team works with individuals, foundations and corporations to secure financial resources that support the dean’s vision and goals. We strive to engage alumni with the college and university in significantly meaningful ways.

“Significantly meaningful” takes many forms and is different for each person. We are seeing more and more alumni support initiatives that not only honor their values, but also enable them to have a greater impact and ignite lasting change. Increasingly, individual and corporate donors alike are fueling their passion for change through philanthropic action directed at growing the number of women and underrepresented students in STEM fields. They are supporting undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, student clubs and faculty activities – all with the aim of increasing diversity not only within the college, but throughout the engineering profession.

Combined, these efforts help the college make important strides toward fulfilling the dean’s vision of a more representative college.

Keeping Standards High

Donors and alumni say it is critical for the college to keep increasing enrollment of students from diverse backgrounds, and they want the dean to have resources to proactively recruit and retain the best students.

They know that a commitment to diversity does not mean relaxing standards. To keep growing the college, we need the competitive advantage that a diverse student population enables. That’s why donors give to initiatives like the Dean’s Fund for Excellence and Transfer Student Fund, as well as student organizations such as the societies of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Women Engineers.

Meeting Needs of the Workforce

To take it a step further, industry representatives see the necessity of an inclusive workforce, and diversity in higher education is key to accomplishing their goals.

Microsoft, Caterpillar, Raytheon, Tucson Electric Power, Exxon Mobil and other companies all tell us they want to support engineering colleges that demonstrate a commitment to inclusion among their own students, faculty and staff.

While having diverse representation at the table improves the bottom line, companies are not just concerned about the bottom line. They are sincere in their commitment to social responsibility. Inclusion, they say, is not just common sense. It’s the right thing to do.

Lasting Pledge to Change

I am convinced that this interest in supporting diversity is not just a passing fad. Rather, it is a lasting pledge to the future. Like our dean, alumni and donors are deeply committed to making the world a better place for everyone and to seeing talent succeed. For our alumni and donors, these efforts to support a more diverse college are both significant and meaningful.

Thank you for being part of the dean’s vision, and for supporting our students and faculty!

Margie Puerta Edson, CFRE Senior Director of Development & Alumni Relations 520.626.0572 • puertaedson@arizona.edu

“For our alumni and donors, these efforts to support a more diverse college are both significant and meaningful.”

The University of Arizona

College of Engineering 3740 E 34th St Tucson, AZ 85713

CALLING ALL ALUMNI!

Where has life taken you since graduation? We’d like to know and so would your college classmates. Please email us with details (no more than 300 words) and be sure to include the following information: • Name and year you graduated • Major • Degree (BS, MS, PhD, etc.) • Details of your activities We’d also be interested to see – and share – pictures of your family, your latest work project, that boat or hot rod you just finished building in your garage, or your blossoming gardens. Vacation photos are great, too. We’ll publish your news and photos online and in the next print edition. Please send your email to

classnotes@engr.arizona.edu

FROM THE ARCHIVES

This photo has us stumped. There were no notes on the back of the print to give us a clue, so we need your help identifying the person and project.

BEEN IN THE NEWS LATELY?

Let us know if you’ve been getting some media attention. Just email the link, and we’ll keep spreading the news on the college website and in social media.