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CoE welcomes alumni for Homecoming 2005

The College of Engineering welcomed alumni and friends back to the UK campus Saturday for Homecoming 2005.

Special recognition was given to the classes of 1955, 1965, 1980 and 1995 on their anniversaries. Alumni and

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Taunya Phillips, BSChE '87, talked with College of Engineering Alumni Association President Darrell Pfingston BSME '73, at Saturday's CoE Homecoming event.

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guests met for a luncheon in the Oliver H. and Anne Raymond Commons in the Ralph G. Anderson Building.

Dean Thomas W. Lester thanked the graduates for their continuing support of the College. The dean also outlined challenges facing the College and the University of Kentucky as it strives to become a top 20 research university. The dean said a key point in President Lee T. Todd's top 20 business plan is for UK's enrollment to grow to the level of most of its benchmark institutions -- about 35,000 students. UK's current enrollment is about 26,000. Dean Lester said the College of Engineering would need to play an important role in that growth, which would require recruitment of high quality students from out of state as well as in Kentucky. He encouraged alumni to contact the College about prospective students in their areas.

Donnie Jones, a computer science major from Louisville, spoke to the group about the design, construction and racing of Gato Del Sol, the UK solar car. Jones is a member of the hard-working Solar Car team that traveled to Austin, Texas in July of 2005 for the North American Solar Challenge. In addition to the engineering challenges it faced, the Solar Car team also was involved in the business side of the project -- fund-raising, budgeting, and management of materials and resources.

Robert Fish, BSCE '38, was among those recognized as Dean Lester presented gifts.