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Preserving History
By
Erin D. McKenzie

Professors’ efforts inspire staff member to start endowment in their honor

In the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering’s infancy three men stood out as pioneers, leading efforts to establish the department of chemical engineering.

Together, the three transformed the department from idea to reality—establishing both undergraduate and graduate programs.

It’s a story that has always touched Sharon Gates, who crossed paths with Joseph R. Crump, H. William Prengle and Abraham E. Dukler frequently during her 26 years at the university. Gates, an advising assistant in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, for years wanted to do something to recognize all three men’s dedication not only to the institution, but the field of chemical engineering.

“It’s almost amazing three guys could do this,” said Gates of their efforts to establish the department. “I wanted to do this (honor them) for years, but until last summer I just didn’t have the money.”

The recent sale of her mother’s home finally afforded her the opportunity, and she used a portion of those funds to establish The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Founders’ Scholarship Endowment, honoring the three men.

Each year, distributed income from the endowment will provide full-time undergraduate students in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering renewable, one-year scholarships that can be used toward tuition, books, fees and supplies.

The endowment has already grown from Gates initial contribution with the help of several others. Earlier this year, a selection committee awarded the first scholarship from the funds to Walter Barta, a sophomore chemical engineering major.

“It was very unexpected,” said Barta, who relies on scholarships and a part-time job to pay most of his tuition. “With this scholarship, next semester is paid.”

Much like the endowment will grow over the next few years, the department did the same early on.

In 1949, Crump became the first chemical engineering faculty member to join the university. In these early years, the chemical engineering program was offered in the evening using part-time instructors from industry. Crump set out to change this. He recruited Prengle and Dukler who worked for Shell and taught part-time before joining the university as associate professors in the fall of 1952.

“In those early years, success was a result of good planning, total cooperation amongst the ChE faculty, and dedication to the task,” Prengle wrote in a brief history left with faculty in the department. “The three of us were bound and determined that our efforts would produce first-class and later a world-class department in the south and southwestern USA, and the best department at UH.”

For years, the three would work to build a credible department—expanding the program in existence from part-time to full-time, developing a bachelor’s curriculum, obtaining funds to create laboratory facilities and adding more faculty.

By the late 1950s, they had not only fine-tuned the undergraduate program, but had established a graduate program, which in 1982 was ranked eighth in the nation by the National Research Council.

“This is a tribute to their history,” Gates said of the endowment. “It’s something that can be left here at the department that will be here forever.”

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