Oct. 11, 2004 — Groundbreaking ceremonies for the University of Utah’s new John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday Oct. 15 at the construction site southeast of the Merrill Engineering Building on Central Campus Drive.
Program speakers include John Warnock, co-founder and co-chairman of Adobe Systems, Inc.; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator and former Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt; Shane V. Robison, executive vice president and chief technology and strategy officer for Hewlett Packard; and University of Utah President Michael K. Young. Tours and an open house for alumni will follow the groundbreaking.
The $28 million building was funded through $15 million in state building bonds and $13 million in private funds. It is named for John and Marva Warnock – both of whom are University of Utah alumni – in recognition of more than $9 million in total contributions to the university, including two Presidential Endowed Chairs and $6 million for the building.
The heart of the building will be the Michael O. Leavitt Student Learning Center. With computer-based classrooms and teaching labs, quiet study areas and a cafe, the center will provide the academic home of the engineering campus. The center honors former Gov. Leavitt’s extraordinary commitment to engineering education and technology development.
Among the Warnock Engineering Building’s high-tech facilities will be the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute, where faculty and students are dedicated to creating new computing techniques, tools and systems for solving problems that affect human life.
When complete in the fall of 2006, the 100,000-square-foot structure will provide the physical hub for engineering students and faculty. Architects for the project are Anshen & Allen of San Francisco with Prescott Muir of Salt Lake City. Jacobsen Construction is the general contractor.
Marva Warnock (B.S. ’66) is a designer and partner with Marsh Design in Palo Alto, Calif. John Warnock (B.S. ’61, M.S. ’64, Ph.D. ’69) is co-chairman of the board of Adobe Systems, Inc., a company he co-founded in 1982 with Charles Geschke. Warnock pioneered the development of world-renowned graphics, publishing, web and electronic document technologies that revolutionized publishing, design and visual communication. He holds six patents and is one of the world’s most respected software innovators.
In addition to the Warnock’s cornerstone gift, the building campaign attracted more than 500 individual gifts from engineering alumni and friends.
With approximately 2,200 undergraduates and 700 graduate students, the College of Engineering is the University of Utah’s fourth-largest college. The college is best known for its advanced work in computer graphics, robotics, multiphysics simulation, and bioengineering – with outstanding research centers and institutes in seven academic departments. Strong multidisciplinary teams conduct much of the most advanced research with a focus on large, complex problems. The faculty and graduates are highly entrepreneurial and have spun off more than 100 companies.
University of Utah College of Engineering
External and Community Relations
1495 E. 100 South, Room 203, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-1114
(801) 581-7194 or 587-9410
www.coe.utah.edu