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College Hosts Inaugural Leadership Appreciation Dinner

Ninety guests attended the College’s first Leadership Appreciation Dinner.
Ninety guests attended the College’s first Leadership Appreciation Dinner.

On November 8, Drosdick Endowed Dean Gary A. Gabriele, PhD, hosted the College of Engineering’s inaugural Leadership Appreciation Dinner. John Hartner ’85 ME, the College’s chairman of For the Greater Great: The Villanova Campaign to Ignite Change, welcomed the evening’s 90 guests and shared a campaign update. Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Andrea Welker, PhD, presented the College’s impressive statistics on the number of women in engineering, including both faculty—28 percent—and undergraduates—29 percent.  

Drosdick Endowed Dean Gary Gabriele acknowledged donors’ generosity and shared plans for the CEER expansion.
Drosdick Endowed Dean Gary Gabriele acknowledged donors’ generosity and shared plans for the CEER expansion.

Dean Gabriele, as the dinner’s host and keynote speaker, acknowledged the generosity of those alumni, parents and friends who have been leaders in providing philanthropic support to the College of Engineering. He shared the impact their philanthropy has had over the years and how it has positioned the College to become a leader in providing an innovative engineering education. The dinner concluded with Dean Gabriele sharing an exciting new vision for the expansion of the Center for Engineering Education and Research (CEER), the College’s primary engineering facility, which will double the size of the building. He explains, “The impact of the CEER expansion cannot be overstated. It will enable us to bring all engineering disciplines together, thereby facilitating interdisciplinary research and collaboration in new state-of- the-art laboratories, create the opportunity for expanded research in areas the College has demonstrated strengths in, including bioengineering and water resources, and allow the College to graduate more PhD students, which impacts the University’s overall ranking as a national University in U.S. News & World Report. ” The College will continue to rely on the generous support of its alumni and friends to make this new vision for CEER a reality.