Big crowd is anticipated for the 2010 Engineering Celebration this Friday

More than 100 people are expected to attend the engineering department’s 2010 celebration on Friday, which will showcase the progress that the engineering programs have made during the past decade. The program will unite many of the contributors who have helped make the program successful, along with 10 years of graduating students with a wide range of technical disciplines.

Faculty, alumni and industry affiliates will participate in the celebration, starting with a dinner at 6:30 p.m. and concluding at 9:30 p.m. in Rowan Hall. Keynote speakers will include President Donald J. Farish, Henry Rowan - creator of the Engineering College - and James Tracey, the founding dean of the engineering programs.

“It’s going to be a wonderful gathering and we are going to be bursting at the seams here in Rowan Hall,” said Dean of Engineering Dianne Dorland.

Associate professor of mechanical engineering Jennifer Kadlowec is looking forward to the event.

“It is exciting to see that we’ve grown from a brand new program to now having 10 years of alumni.  It’s very exciting to hear from the alums about their careers, lives and families since they graduated,” Kadlowec said.

She and other engineering faculty often learn that Rowan experiences were important to the careers of graduates, which is rewarding to them.

Tours of the S.J. Technology Park will also be available on Friday from 4:30-6:30 p.m., allowing visiting alumni to view the center. Opened in October 2008, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students conduct research at S.J. Technology Park and work on many “real-world” projects sponsored by the industrial affiliates.

In addition to marking 10 years of engineering graduates, Dorland noted that the celebration also will recognize the relationship the college of engineering has formed with its industrial affiliates. A key part of the engineering program’s success has been sponsorships of technical and challenging projects for students by the affiliates.

“It is the engineering clinics that are the hallmark of our engineering education, which make this education such an outstanding experience,” Dorland said.