Clines' $1million gift Endows Chair

03/14/08 - Roy Cline (BSCE '60) and his wife, Caryl, of Omaha, Neb., committed $1 million in 2003 to the University of Wyoming to support a shared, endowed faculty position between the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Ruckelshaus Institute and School for Environment and Natural Resources (IENR). "My wife and I wanted to make a significant contribution to UW in appreciation for what it had done for my career," says Cline, who retired from Peter Kiewit Sons Inc. in 2003. "UW gave me a good start in life with my education. From my perspective, it's time to repay the University.

The gift will be doubled by the State's matching fund to total $2 million. In 2001, the Wyoming Legislature established a fund to match gifts of $50,000 or more designated for UW endowments. Annual income generated by the endowment will allow UW to attract a nationally-recognized scholar in environmental engineering. Cline and administrators of both disciplines decided a joint chair was the best way to use the gift. The new position will considerably hasten the building of a program that previously had just three assistant professors.

"This is really a great opportunity for the College of Engineering and Applied Science to strengthen its environmental engineering program," says Gus Plumb, Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. "Having a senior faculty member in that program will really put us on the map in the environmental engineering area." The College of Engineering and Applied Science will provide the office for the new faculty member, and candidates will focus on interdisciplinary scholarship, research, and teaching, and will work extensively with IENR.

A native of Greybull, Wyoming, UW alum Cline also earned a master's degree from Stanford University. After working for the California State Highway Department, he served in the U.S. Air Force and was awarded the Bronze Star. Cline had a long career with Morrison Knudsen Construction Group before becoming president of the Kiewit Industrial Company and later Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors for Peter Kiewit Sons Inc., of Omaha.

Cline was named UW Distinguished Alumnus in 1994, inducted into the College of Engineering and Applied Science Hall of Fame in 1999, and appointed to the UW Foundation Board earlier this fall. He has also been more than generous with his time and expertise as a member of the College's National Advisory Board and the Board of Directors for IENR.

Roy and Caryl Cline's gift of an endowed chair has, understandably, generated much excitement, anticipation and appreciation in the College.