A new milestone for engineering school
Steve Thompson, News Editor, sthompson@smu.edu
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: News
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"As we approach our centennial celebration, it is fitting that the Caruth name is once again linked with SMU, because the Caruth family made the original gift of land that helped to assure the university's location in Dallas," Turner said.
Part of the gift, $5.1 million of it, will go toward the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education. This program will not just help SMU, but also K-16 engineering education across the nation. According to information distributed at the ceremony today, less than 15 percent of U.S. high school graduates have the background to pursue a major in engineering. The newly endowed and named institute would work to change this, working with elementary and middle schools, as opposed to just high school students.
"This is the largest and most important gift to enable kids to understand what it takes to be an innovator," Geoffrey Orsak said, the engineering school Dean.
But, as Orsak said, the institute is barely in existence without a building to house it in. The other $5 million will go toward an $18 million cutting edge, green facility, Caruth Hall.
"It will be a building where students are innovating," Orsak said, "not just learning."
According to Orsak, SMU will break ground on the building next summer and it will be operational by 2009. The building will change the landscape of SMU's campus, but some engineering students wonder what it will do for them specifically.
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