University of Maine Foundation President/CEO Jeffery Mills has announced that Westbrook businessman Henry Saunders has created the Kenneth W. Saunders and Henry W. Saunders Professorship in Engineering Leadership and Management at the University of Maine to honor the memory of his son, who passed away in January 2014.
The gift of $250,000 to the University of Maine Foundation, from Saunders and his daughter, Leslie S. McManus will encourage a legacy of support for future engineers at the the university.
Henry Saunders grew up in his family’s business, Saunders Brothers in Westbrook, Maine. As a former president and business owner, he knows the value of leadership and management skills, and understands the value of the technical expertise he acquired as a 1950 engineering graduate of UMaine.
Saunders’ son, Kenneth, passed away suddenly in 2014 from viral pneumonia. Kenneth’s engineering career spanned almost 30 years, starting at MIT Lincoln Labs in Massachusetts. He was an acknowledged leader in various projects for NASA, including aircraft collision avoidance, the so-called “Star Wars” development for destruction of enemy missiles, and other government and private entities. For the last five years of his life, he was an engineer at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
Kenneth received numerous awards for his achievements and academics, the latest of which were two New Mexico State University Research Achievement Awards for his work with rocket telemetry at White Sands Missile Range. Kenneth’s passion for engineering, learning and his natural leadership skills carried over into everything he did.
Kenneth was valedictorian of the Class of 1978 at Westbrook High School, graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and received a master’s degree from Purdue University.
Dana Humphrey, dean of the UMaine College of Engineering, has been named the first Kenneth W. and Henry W. Saunders Professor, serving a five-year term. The focus is on helping engineering students go beyond technical competence to prepare for leadership roles in their fields.
Henry Saunders stresses the importance of developing stronger leadership skills in business and in government. These skills require improvements and greater competence in human relations, technical knowledge and managerial abilities; they include stronger levels of trust, greater courage and vision, and the ability to execute these seven leadership skills. He especially believes that UMaine Engineering students will gain a huge advantage in their careers by learning these skills in leadership and management and thinks Dean Humphrey is an excellent choice.
“Dean Humphrey is not only an accomplished academic leader, he is passionate about teaching leadership,” says UMaine Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jeffrey Hecker. “He developed a minor in engineering leadership and management and teaches the foundational course in the curriculum. Funds such as the Saunders Professorship are important for UMaine because they provide awards to retain the best faculty and the support needed for them to continue to excel. The advantage of an endowed fund such as this one, is that the support is ongoing.”
Pictured from left, are the late Kenneth Saunders and his parents, the late Marjorie Saunders and Henry Saunders. Henry Saunders and daughter, Leslie S. McManus gifted $250,000 to the University of Maine Foundation to support future engineers at the University of Maine.
