Fifty years ago this spring, engineering students and administrators dedicated the Taylor T-Room in Taylor Hall. The project, a six-year, student-led renovation effort, resulted in a new study lounge for engineering students. Engineering students, dubbed "Gophers," dug out by shovel and pick-ax more than 67,000 cubic feet of dirt from underneath Taylor Hall. Operation Gopher was a momentous feat for engineering students enrolled during the early to late 1950s — and in dedicating the Taylor T-Room, thousands of students to follow would have use of a community space designed for learning and interaction.
Friday, April 11, 2008, engineering administrators and students dedicated, once again, a T-Room. However, this T-Room, also a six-year renovation effort, was led by the vision and generosity of a very special company and hundreds of mechanical engineering alumni. Steve Lewis, Director of Strategic Planning for Ford Motor Company, was on hand to kick off the dedication ceremony of the Ford Motor Company Academic and Student Life Center (aka, the T-Room), and had more than 70 students and faculty surround him as he talked about the importance of thinking big and pursuing dreams. Ford Motor Company was the initial investor in this 2001 renovation effort, to the tune of $1.2 million, and encouraged the department to pursue alumni matching to completely transform a once dark and cave-like room in the Engineering Teaching Center II building, home to the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
The renovation effort, executed by Flynn Construction, expanded when in 2004, department chair Joe Beaman gave the OK to move forward with phase II. This most recent phase transformed the entryway and lobby area of the ETC II building, to complement the naturally lit study and community space on the building's east side adjacent to Waller Creek. Led by alumni Keys Curry, B.S.M.E. 1958, and B. Elliott Short, B.S.M.E. 1972 (the son of legendary Mechanical Engineering Professor Byron Short, B.S.M.E. 1926, M.S.M.E. 1930 and father of Andrew Short, B.S.M.E. 2000), phase II was completed in fall 2007, and included the relocation of the mechanical engineering computer lab from the third floor to the student-centered second floor. Keys and Joan Curry donated additional funds to the project, naming the Keys and Joan Curry Atrium, and the Short Family, with help from 150 former Byron Short students, donated funds to redesign the building's front entry into the Byron Elliott Short Entryway to Mechanical Engineering, an effort to recognize engineering's many multi-generational families.
Dean Ben Streetman said of the occasion, "tonight's ceremony celebrates 50 years of engineering history on campus, and to partner with donors like Ford Motor Co., the Currys and the Shorts, is symbolic of the cyclical mission of providing a first-rate education to engineering students." Chair Joe Beaman thanked all the T-Room donors on hand for the ceremony, and the many donors who could not be present. "Through your generosity," he said, "engineering students for decades to come will know how alumni commitment can impact education and opportunity. Thank you for helping make this big dream a reality."
Keys Curry (L) and family in front of the Keys and Joan Curry Atrium plaque
ME Chair Joe Beaman (L) thanks Steve Lewis for Ford Motor Company's initial vision
Elliott Short (center) celebrates with his family in front of the new Byron Short Entryway display
Steve Lewis (center) is surrounded by ME Longhorns to dedicate the new Ford Motor Company Academic and Student Life Center