Donation to GU to go toward science center

A $2 million donation from a Bellevue-based company that specializes in designing long-haul trucks is helping Gonzaga University build a new science center that will expand the school’s engineering programs, the school said Friday.

The donation from Paccar Inc. will cover about a quarter of the cost of the new $7.9 million Paccar Center for Applied Science, which is scheduled to open in time for classes in fall 2008, GU said. The 25,000-square-foot building will be just south of the Herak Center for Engineering, with construction set to begin in the spring.

The center will house a new program in engineering for electrical transmission and distribution systems that will be among the first of its kind, said Dennis Horn, the school’s dean of engineering. The program will be geared toward the working professional and will soon be available online in an attempt to capture national interest.

“What we are proposing to do and teach in those courses is something very unique,” Horn said. “We know of no other university or private organization that offers anything like it.”

The center will also offer space for faculty research into robotics and artificial vision, along with other topics, he said. The engineering department at the school has been growing, and computer science was recently moved into that school, as well, so the new building will help ease crowding, too, Horn said.

Paccar is a Fortune 200 company that designs and builds trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF names. It also provides financial services and distributes truck parts.

Horn said GU approached the company, which has been a supporter of GU and engineering programs in general, with a proposal for a donation. Paccar has also donated money to engineering programs in other schools around the country.

GU President Robert Spitzer said in a news release that the school expects the new building to become the “technological heart” of the campus, and to benefit both students and industry in the region. The center will include classrooms, faculty offices and labs.