COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M University and the Dwight Look College of Engineering celebrated the naming of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering Oct. 27 at a ceremony in the J. Wayne Stark University Center Galleries.

Representatives of the Zachry family, Zachry Foundation and Zachry Corp. were in attendance.

Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering Dr. G. Kemble Bennett welcomed the Zachrys and said, "We are here to celebrate a milestone in A&M history -- the naming of the civil engineering department -- and to thank the Zachry Foundation, whose generosity and loyalty have made such a permanent impression on our university and the engineering program."

The Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System approved the naming of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering in recognition of a $10 million commitment from The Zachry Foundation.

The breadth of the gift will range from endowed faculty chairs and professorships to scholarships and fellowships, and includes support for the department's excellence fund, surveying camp and student advising services. The gift also will provide a challenge fund to match qualifying gifts to the department and encourage additional investment by other benefactors. Part of the gift will emphasize design and construction integration, a specialty of the Zachry Corp.

"The gift from the Zachry Foundation recognizes that out of every fruition comes a greater struggle," H.B. "Bartell" Zachry Jr. said. "A&M really competes not just academically but as a complete product. The graduate is unique person and the other experiences and reinforcement of values at A&M is part of the package that I would like to commend the administration for emphasizing, supporting and nurturing, and preserving, because those are the attributes of an Aggie.

"Thank you all for helping us celebrate, and we are so delighted with this recognition."

The Zachry name is well known in the construction industry. The Zachry group of companies can trace its roots back 80 years to the late H.B. "Pat" Zachry Sr., a Texas A&M Class of 1922 civil engineering graduate who forged a small dirt-moving job with rented mules into one of the nation's largest multi-national construction companies. Pat Zachry served his alma mater in many leadership roles, including chairman of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Zachry Engineering Center, one of the largest buildings on campus, was named for him in 1972.

Pat Zachry, his companies and his family, most notably son Bartell, are longstanding supporters of Texas A&M Engineering. Their generosity endowed the Zachry Industry Teaching Program, which brings professional engineers and other experts to campus as guest lecturers and advisers for research and public service programs.

David Rosowsky, head of the civil engineering department and holder of the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Engineering, praised the Zachrys for their support of civil engineering.

"Bartell Zachry has entrusted us with his family's name, and through his generosity will enable us to do great things -- for our students, our faculty, and the profession of civil engineering through the education of generations of students to come," Rosowsky said. "From this point forward, everything we do now, we do under the name of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering. We bear this name with pride and go forward inspired to reach high and achieve great things, just as the Zachry family has done for generations."

Bartell earned a civil engineering degree from Texas A&M in 1954. A lifelong proponent of public service and giving back to his community, Bartell has served with numerous educational, research and civic organizations, and is a Texas Business Hall of Fame inductee. He has also been an avid supporter of Texas A&M. He is co-chair of the Corps of Cadets Leadership Excellence Advisory Board and was the inaugural chairman of the President's Board of Visitors for the Corps. He has served on the President's Advisory Council, the Department of Civil Engineering's advisory committee and the Board of Advisors of the Texas Engineering Extension Service. Bartell was inducted into the Corps Hall of Fame in 2001, making the Zachrys the first father and son ever inducted. Bartell was also named a Texas A&M Distinguished Alumnus in 1997 and received Texas A&M Engineering's Outstanding Alumni Honor Award in 2005.

Mollie Zachry, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, is an Aggie booster and an active community volunteer and leader. The couple has four adult children -- John and David Zachry, Anne Rochelle and Ellen Carrie -- and 14 grandchildren.

Bartell and his sons, also Aggie civil engineers, share leadership responsibilities in the Zachry group of companies. Bartell is chairman of the board for Zachry Construction Corp. John, Class of 1984, is chief executive officer for Zachry Construction and chairman of Capitol Aggregates, an affiliated interest. David, Class of 1985, is president and chief operating officer of Zachry Construction Corp.

The Zachry Department of Civil Engineering is one of the largest in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, with a fall enrollment of 1,018 undergraduate students, 207 master's students and 129 Ph.D. students. The department is consistently among the top civil engineering programs in the country, with the undergraduate program ranking 10th (sixth among public schools) and the graduate program 13th (eighth public) in the most recent U.S. News & World Report standings.

The Zachry Foundation's gift is part of the Tne Spirit One Vision Campaign, the university's multiyear fund-raising effort aimed at helping Texas A&M attain national top 10 status among public universities while sustaining the distinctive Texas A&M spirit. The volunteer-led campaign, coordinated by the Texas A&M Foundation, encompasses all private gifts benefiting the university.

For more information, contact

Reporter: Lesley Kriewald
lesleyk@tamu.edu
(979) 845-5524

News Story 1248, October 28, 2005

Direct page link:
http://engineeringnews.tamu.edu/news/1248

Main News Page