UC Aerospace Celebrates 75 Years of Excellence

The College of Engineering’s Aerospace Program celebrates being the second oldest aeronautical/aerospace engineering program in the nation (and the first program chaired by a woman). The program will celebrate its 75th Anniversary on Friday and Saturday, October 1–2, 2004.

Underwritten in part by General Electric Aircraft Engines and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, the anniversary weekend’s events include campus tours, a nostalgic lunch of Skyline chili and Graeter’s ice cream, lab demonstrations, and the weekend’s highlight event — a dinner banquet on Saturday in the newly remodeled Tangeman University Center (TUC) Great Hall. The anniversary celebration costs $25 per person for one day or $40 for both days (including parking at UC). Any contributions above the $25 or $40 would be appreciated as donations to the 75th Anniversary Fund, which will be used to establish undergraduate scholarships in the department.

Friday’s activities start off with a panel discussion from 3 – 5 p.m. in 755 Baldwin, featuring speakers from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Dick Johnson of Gulfstream will discuss supersonic business jets and Bill Koop of WPAFB will discuss Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE). A reception follows, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at the Hofbrauhaus in Newport. Saturday’s offerings include various tours (fast, slow and in between) of the UC campus, starting at 10 a.m. After the nostalgic lunch in the Max Kade Cultural Center in Old Chem from 11:30 to 1:15 p.m., the group will reconvene in 544 Baldwin for a presentation by the “Wright Brothers.” The weekend culminates in a banquet dinner in TUC's Great Hall, starting with cocktails at 5:30 p.m.

University President Nancy Zimpher will deliver Saturday’s dinner address at approximately 6 p.m. Brian Rowe, chairman emeritus, GE Aircraft Engines, will be the keynote speaker, starting at approximately 7:30 p.m. Rowe received an honorary doctor of science degree from UC in 1987 and is a UC Foundation Board Member, an Alumni Association Lifetime Member and a Circle of Honor Benefactor. In 2001, he established the Rowe Center for Women at the College of Engineering, and the Newcastle exchange program for engineering students at the University of Cincinnati. Rowe was also recently named the executive conference chair of Turbo Express 2005, to be held in Reno, Nev., next June. He is the founder of AeroEquity, Inc., a Savannah-based private investment firm.

The Rowe Center for Women at the college of engineering was established with Rowe’s personal gift of $300,000 to the college in 2001. The center, which opened in January 2002, promotes undergraduate recruitment, retention and post-graduate mentoring for female engineering students. Now in its fourth year, the Newcastle Exchange Program annually exchanges a UC engineering student with an engineering student from the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom (Rowe’s alma mater).

The aerospace engineering department, chaired by Dr. Awatef Hamed, has more than 1,900 living graduates and current enrollment of 197 undergraduate and 75 graduate students. Of its full-time tenure-track faculty, 17 faculty members receive current research funding of over $210,000 per member.

UC Aerospace 75th Anniversary Information and Reservations

Kingsgate Marriott