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NEWS RELEASE

06-06-01

Contacts:
Wallace Sanders, (515) 232-7184
Tom Mitchell, ISU Foundation, (515) 294-4077
Lance Cavanaugh, Engineering, (515) 294-4489
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917

GIFT WILL HELP ISU RENOVATE STRUCTURAL LAB

AMES, Iowa -- A recent $150,000 gift to the ISU Foundation for the College of Engineering will be used to renovate the Structural Engineering Laboratory II. The renovated lab will be named the Wallace W. and Julia B. Sanders Structural Engineering Laboratory, in honor of the donors.

The Sanders' gift will finance the construction of a testing floor and reaction frames, which will make the engineering laboratory conducive to testing structural components. Wallace Sanders said the gift will provide opportunities for departmental teaching through laboratory experiences.

"We'd like to see the gift make a significant improvement in the ability of the facility to support structural research and training, and to inspire others to help the department improve all of its laboratories," Wallace Sanders said.

"This gift from Wallace and Julia will ensure our structural engineering students receive cutting-edge opportunities that will give them a competitive edge in the field," said ISU Foundation President Thomas Mitchell.

Wallace Sanders, a professor emeritus of Civil and Construction Engineering, worked at Iowa State for 34 years, including serving as an associate dean in the College of Engineering before retiring in 1998. Julia Sanders is a retired registered nurse.

The Sanders' decided to make the contribution to ISU because of the opportunities and benefits that they have had by being a part of the ISU community, Wallace Sanders said.

"We wanted to return something in recognition of those benefits while we could see their effects on the department and university," Sanders said. "We also appreciated the education our two children had at ISU."

The couple's daughter, Linda, is a 1981 graduate of the hotel, restaurant and institution management program, and currently the food service manager at the University of Missouri-Columbia campus dining. Their son, David, a 1984 graduate in civil and construction engineering, is now an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Nevada-Reno.

The Iowa State University Foundation is the central fund-raising arm for Iowa State. The ISU Foundation assists the university by securing and managing private gift support from individuals, corporations and foundations. In 2000, it completed Campaign Destiny: To Become the Best, which raised more than $458 million over five years.

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