Kingsbury Hall seen as essential to state’s economic success

by Robert Emro, CEPS

Alumni, businesses and industry are rising to the challenge, contributing more than $3 million so far to the Kingsbury Hall renovation and expansion project, according to the UNH Foundation.

Home of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS), Kingsbury is the first UNH science building to be modernized under the legislature’s Knowledge Education Economy Plan (KEEP). The state has contributed $44 million to the $52.98-million project to help ensure continued development of the New Hampshire’s high-tech economy.

Many private companies consider their support of the project an investment in their future economic success. Manchester based engineering firm Hoyle Tanner & Associates, Inc. recently pledged $50,000 to name a civil engineering classroom. HTA President and CEO James Boothroyd is a 1969 CEPS alumnus and a member of the college’s Industrial Advisory Council, which actively promoted the Kingsbury project.

“This donation is really an investment in our commitment to engineering excellence and a statement of support for the future of our chosen profession from the engineering community,” said HTA senior vice president Frank Wells.

Phase I of the project was completed in January, allowing faculty, staff and students to move into new labs, offices and classrooms, including a 45,000-square-foot wing devoted entirely to teaching labs. When phase II is completed in 2007, the remainder of the building will be renovated and another new wing built to house the college’s library and 6,000 square feet of student project space.

“The Kingsbury project represents our commitment to ensuring that our graduates are not only well grounded in the fundamentals of science and engineering, but also have experience using the latest high-technology approaches,” said CEPS Dean Joe Klewicki, “The continuous research and development that goes hand in hand with that approach to education leads to improvements in the quality of life for everyone and helps ensure the global competitiveness of the New Hampshire economy.”

Paul Goransson, founder and president of Meetinghouse Data Communications of Portsmouth was an early contributor. Goransson, who earned the first PhD in computer science from UNH in 1995, will name a computer science lab on the third floor of Kingsbury.

“I started Meetinghouse while in the Ph.D. program at UNH,” he said. “Many other UNH computer science graduates have contributed significantly to our engineering organization over the years.”

UNH computer science alumni Ron Chesley’83 and Doug Fowler ’82 have started several software companies. Their latest venture, SpectorSoft Corporation, is an Internet-monitoring software maker that was named one of the 500 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. magazine in both of the last two years. With SpectorSoft, Chesley and Fowler contributed $25,000 toward a classroom on the third floor of the new building.

“We’re fortunate to be successful and are proud of the companies we have built and the products we created,” said Chesley. “UNH provided us a strong foundation in the technology field, and I feel pretty lucky for that.”

The very first contributor to the project was Kingsbury Inc., the company founded by the building’s namesake. The corporation, still run by the Kingsbury family, contributed $250,000 for a manufacturing and product development lab.

“The company and the Kingsbury family are very interested in higher education and supporting young engineers,” said Woods R. Brown, Kingsbury president and CEO “We do need engineers in this country and it’s hard to find people.”