College of Engineering Celebrates Grand Opening at the Navy Yard

Dozens of members of the greater Philadelphia business community joined the College of Engineering at a special ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new center of learning at the historic Philadelphia Navy Yard on Oct. 12. Located within Philadelphia Technology Park, the space allows the College to offer graduate programs (which began Aug. 24), distance-learning courses, executive and professional engineering training programs, and corporate training with remote capabilities in a new world-class research, development and industrial setting.

The event kicked off with remarks by John Grady, Executive Vice President of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, who expressed excitement and optimism about the College’s new presence at the Navy Yard, which is rapidly becoming the region’s hub for engineering and technology. The Reverend Peter Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D., University President, congratulated the College on bringing a new Villanova experience into Philadelphia and recognized the College’s long history of educating engineers who go on to leadership positions with the U.S. Navy. Dr. Gary Gabriele, Drosdick Endowed Dean of Engineering, discussed the College’s growing graduate studies program and the benefits of offering a Villanova Engineering education in a high-tech location convenient to professionals at engineering organizations situated along the I-95 corridor.

Father Donohue, Dr. Gabriele, and Grady then cut the ribbon on the 1,400-square-foot facility, which houses a 40-seat classroom and 10-seat collaboration area—both of which employ the latest in web broadcasting and video teleconferencing capabilities. Sean O’Donnell, Director of Distance Education, and Jeff Schwarz, Manager of E-Learning, conducted an interactive tour of the classroom and its technology for all attendees.

In addition to graduate courses, the classroom also will be leasable to area corporations for in-house professional development as a state-of-the-art option for companies with a national workforce to provide training in a more cost-effective, streamlined manner. It will also be used to provide Villanova continuing studies courses and accommodate other University strategic goals including graduate recruitment events and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education outreach programs for the region’s K-12 students and educators.