CEEM Celebrates Stellar Homecoming 2016

Halloween weekend was also a full Homecoming weekend for the UA department of civil engineering and engineering mechanics. The festivities on Friday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Oct. 29, included the College's 53rd annual Engineers Breakfast, the department's biannual Centennial Lecture, the dedication of the Nowatzki Lecture Hall and the 11th annual CEEM Homecoming BBQ. 

On Friday, alumna and clean-water advocate Marla Smith-Nilson delivered the 2016 Centennial Lecture. In it, Smith-Nilson, founder of the nonprofit Water1st International, described the experiences of Mari Tuji, a woman in an impoverished village in Ethiopia who had to carry five-gallon jugs of unclean water miles every day to provide for her family. After Water1st helped build a clean water source in her village, Tuji had the time and energy to take on a leadership role in her community. 

Later that afternoon, the department dedicated Civil Engineering 201 in memory of beloved instructor and engineer Edward A. Nowatzki.

Donors, family members and former colleagues gathered for a ceremony that revisited Ed’s life and recognized his fundamental contributions to the field of civil engineering. The endowment established in his name will fund the Centennial Lecture Series, which he helped found.

On Saturday, CEEM held the Homecoming BBQ in the Civil Engineering Building courtyard, which was dressed spiderwebs and caution tape for a "Haunted Homecoming."

The event, as per tradition, was catered by Lido’s Bar-BQ Ranch. To close the night, SCE officers raffled a basketball signed by the 2016-2017 men’s team and coach Sean Miller.

CEEM is grateful for the many donors who supported its Homecoming celebration, including contributors to the Nowatzki endowment and barbecue sponsors QuakeWrap Inc., Structural Grace, and Nathan and Karen Palmer.