A LU M N I
Alumni Events continued
An alumni reception was held in Ottawa on September 21, 2011.
Damasdy Sculpture Dedication
Sheila and Robert Murray (right) with Dean Woodhouse and Kent Novakowski, Department Head, Civil Engineering, at the Ottawa Reception.
Gunnar Heissler speaks at the dedication ceremony.
Engineering sculpture finds new home at Queen’s
Enthusiastic alumni in Houston, Texas, join Dean Woodhouse at a reception hosted by Theresa Redburn, Sc’85, and her husband, Mike Lowell.
In the early 1970’s, Gerry Granek and Jack Chisvin, principals of the ECE Group, commissioned artist Julius Damasdy to create a sculpture for their Toronto office that reflected on nature and technology and the contributions engineers have made to humanity. The sculpture had to be respectful of nature while depicting progress, and it had to be made of common native materials found in Ontario. The sculpture attracted many visitors and admirers. ECE Group was acquired by Conestoga Rovers & Associates in 2003, and since then the sculpture has not had a permanent home. Gunnar Heissler, a consulting engineer and former President of the ECE Group in Toronto, made it his mission to find it one. On February 2, 2012, there was a dedication ceremony for the sculpture in its new home in the atrium of Queen’s University’s Beamish-Munro Hall. Among those present at the unveiling were Dr. Kimberly Woodhouse, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Associate Dean Dr. Brian Surgenor, Mr. Heissler and his wife, Pauline, Gerry Granek’s daughter Barb and her husband, Ernie, their son David and Barb’s nephew David.
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