CEE Breaks Ground on Student Center

4/9/2010

Department breaks ground on addition to Newmark Lab.

Written by

Pictured left to right: CEE alumnus Wilbur C. Milhouse III, CEE Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai, College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida, University of Illinois Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler, CEE senior Claire Joseph, and CEE Undergraduate Program Coordinator Becky Stillwell.

Groundbreaking video

The department officially broke ground on the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Student Center in Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory on April 7 with a ceremony in the Newmark Lab crane bay.  The Yeh Center will be a 20,500-square-foot addition to Newmark Lab that will be entirely student-focused, providing new classrooms and meeting spaces for students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

The ceremonial groundbreaking was held indoors due to inclement weather, with participants turning the earth in a wooden box built for the occasion.  Speakers were University of Illinois Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler, College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida, CEE Professor and Head Amr Elnashai, donor/alumnus representative Wilbur C. Milhouse (BS 94, MS 95), and student representative Claire Joseph.  An informal reception followed. 

New classrooms, a conference room, meeting rooms for student groups, and a spacious atrium with seating for informal gathering are all part of the design.  The goal is to improve the student experience by providing CEE students with a designated “home” on campus where they can attend class, hold student group meetings, study and collaborate on projects, and meet informally.  Currently, CEE classes are held in various buildings across campus.  Move-in is set for April 2011.  The construction of the Yeh Student Center will fulfill the original vision for Newmark Laboratory, which included plans for an additional structure for classrooms.  At that time, budget constraints prevented its realization. 

Each of the speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony thanked the many private donors to the project and emphasized how significantly the addition will enhance the student experience by providing CEE students a home on campus.  Elnashai acknowledged the vision of former CEE head Robert H. Dodds Jr., who revitalized the student center initiative during his time as head.

“Our dedication to our students is reflected by the new structure going up today within civil engineering," said Dean Adesida.  "It is gratifying for us that a dream of 40 years is coming true.”

“This building is the answer to many, many hopes over the years," Interim Vice Chancellor Wheeler said.  "It’s exemplary in that it is a donor-sponsored and financed operation. It’s exemplary in that it brings into focus a dimension of university life that sometimes gets pushed to the side … the importance of space. ...The university cares about its students, and the Yeh Center will become the home that civil and environmental engineering students richly deserve, and it will be enduring for many years to come.”

Lead donor Yeh was unable to attend the groundbreaking, but Professor and Head Elnashai read a statement from him.

"Some of my fondest memories of my time at the civil engineering department were chit-chatting with fellow students, discussing academic subjects as well as other worldly topics," Yeh wrote.  "Some of them became my lifelong friends. I hope that the student center will enable similar events to happen for today’s and tomorrow’s CEE students.”

CEE alumnus Milhouse echoed Yeh's sentiments about the lasting value of his time at Illinoisboth the education he received and the relationships he formed here.

“The University and this College are home for me. I spent eight years of my life here. I raised two children here. I got married here. I got two degrees here,” Milhouse said. “This is an awesome day. I’m very proud to be an Illini.”

Current student Joseph, a senior, emphasized the need for the Yeh Center and thanked everyone involved in its realization on behalf of the student body.

"This construction fills a void that students have known for years: CEE students don’t have a place to call our own on campus,” Joseph said. “The Alma Mater just a few blocks away says it perfectly: ‘To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings.’ The Yeh Student Center sends a clear message to the future students of our department, and that message is that there’s a long tradition of scholarship, leadership and commitment to responsibility in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Illinois, and they too can be a part of it.”

The crowd gathers for the groundbreaking, held in Newmark Lab due to rain.

The Yeh Center will also serve as a living laboratory with links to the physical structure where displays fed by wireless sensors will show long-span vibrations, energy consumption, and other unique features of the building directly applicable to the students’ learning experience.  The addition will meet the standards for a silver certification through LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Yeh Student Center is named for M.T. Geoffrey Yeh (BS 53), Chairman of Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd., Hong Kong, who made the lead gift of $4 million. Born in 1931 in Shanghai, China, Yeh is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building, United Kingdom; Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors; Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Construction Managers; and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings.

In addition to serving as Chairman of Hsin Chong International Holdings Ltd., Yeh holds directorships in numerous companies both public-listed and private. During his career, he pioneered various cost- and time-saving construction innovations in Hong Kong that are now in use by all construction companies throughout the region. He was Chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Training Authority in 1975 and Chairman of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange in 1998.
 
Yeh is a 2010 Distinguished Alumnus of CEE at Illinois. He established the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Graduate Research Fellowship in the department in 1994 and the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Endowed Chair Fund in 1998. In 2007, he pledged the lead gift for the Yeh Student Center in Newmark Laboratory. He is a member of the President’s Council of the University of Illinois Foundation.

Make a gift to the Yeh Center fund

 

Left to right: Jerry Cibulka of Teng; CEE Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai; College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida; Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler; CEE Professor and Associate Head David Lange.

Left to right: CEE Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai; CEE alumnus and President of the CEE Alumni Association Kenneth M. Floody (BS 83); College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida; David Ferryman of CN; Dean Arnold of O'Neil Industries Inc.; and Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler.

Left to right: Robert F. Hannah of University of Illinois Facilities and Services; College of Engineering Construction Coordinator Greg Larson; CEE Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai; College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida; Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler; and CEE Supervisor of Technical Service Timothy J. Prunkard.

Left to right: Tim Roessler of Roessler Construction; CEE Professor and Head Amr S. Elnashai; College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida; Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Vice Provost Richard Wheeler; Mike Michener of Roessler Construction.


Share this story

This story was published April 9, 2010.