Zachry Group, headquartered in San Antonio, has given a lead gift of $25 million to the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. The contribution will support the construction of the Engineering Education Complex (EEC), establishment of the Zachry Leadership Program and the Zachry Group Professor of Practice within the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

 

“We are humbled and honored to receive such a significant investment in our future,” comments Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of Texas A&M Engineering. “On behalf of Aggies everywhere, I would like to applaud the Zachry Group for its leadership and support. This generous gift will be transformational, impacting students in many ways.”

 

Dwight Look college has more than than 500 faculty members and 14,000 students, and is ranked seventh in engineering graduate programs and eighth in undergraduate engineering programs among public institutions by U.S. News and World Report. Zachry’s contribution to the Texas A&M Foundation is the largest gift to date for the 550,000 square foot EEC building that will become the hub of the college’s undergraduate program. The project will include an extensive renovation and addition to the existing Zachry Engineering Center. Construction is underway and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2018.

 

A second component of the gift creates the Zachry Leadership Program at Texas A&M. The program, jointly established by the Look College and Zachry Group, will expand leadership development and further empower engineering students to become leaders who are well versed in business, collaborative in their decisions and self-aware in their behaviors. When fully established, 100 students will participate in the program and will receive scholarships each semester of the program.

 

“We view this as an investment in the future of our state and our country,” says John B. Zachry ’84, chairman and CEO, Zachry Group. The company operates 35 offices, with more than 20,000 employees working in more than 400 locations nationwide, offering turnkey construction, engineering, maintenance, turnaround, and fabrication services in the power, energy, chemicals, manufacturing, and industrial sectors.

 

The third element of the gift from the Zachry Group will establish a professor of practice in mechanical engineering. The endowment will enable the department to engage and place industry leaders in the classroom to share their real-world experiences and mentor the next generation of engineers.