A visionary partnership between Kathleen and William Urban of Kingston, Wash., and two charitable organizations has created a $1.25 million civil engineering endowment at the Texas A&M Foundation for the benefit of Texas A&M University.

Two $500,000 gifts—from Kathleen and William F. Urban and the Beavers Charitable Trust—and $250,000 in matching funds from the Zachry Foundation have endowed the Beavers Charitable Trust Professorship.

“This professorship will transform heavy construction studies at Texas A&M by creating tremendous new opportunities for our students and faculty,” said G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor and dean of Texas A&M Engineering. “We are extremely grateful to the Urbans, The Beavers Inc. and the Zachry Foundation for their generous gifts, and we look forward to the expanded capabilities of the construction engineering management program.”

During the first five years, the Beavers Charitable Trust Professorship will support the teaching, research, service and professional development activities of a faculty member and graduate student focusing on heavy construction engineering management.

In 2012 the professorship will become the Beavers Charitable Trust Chair with the addition of $250,000 from the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering.

“We are enormously grateful to Kathleen and Bill Urban, and to the Beavers Charitable Trust and the Zachry Foundation, for making this visionary gift to Civil Engineering. By permanently endowing a senior faculty position in Construction Engineering Management (CEM), this gift will allow us to attract leading experts in construction engineering and expand our CEM program. This gift also provides support for graduate fellowships at the discretion of the holder of this new professorship. This powerful new gift will help our program grow in both size and stature and will help to prepare the next generation of graduate engineers to enter the construction engineering field. I am grateful to Bill for leading the initiative that created this new endowment for our department,” said David V. Rosowsky, department head and holder of the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering.

William Urban is the retired president and CEO of General Construction Co. and a past president of The Beavers Inc.

“This professorship was created to be the keystone in a first-of-its-kind program committed solely to advanced studies supporting the heavy construction industry,” said Urban, Texas A&M Class of 1966, who earned his bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering. “Giving back to Texas A&M and the heavy construction industry has been a goal of mine for a long time.”
The gift honors William Fred Urban.

Gift honors William Fred Urban '41.

Urban gave this gift in honor of his father, William Fred Urban, a 1941 Aggie graduate and World War II U.S. Army veteran. His father was the only one of 12 children to attend college and used his degree to build a successful construction business. He passed away at the age of 56 in Victoria, Texas.

“He was the best man I have ever known. When he died, more than a thousand people attended his funeral. This gift is one way to remember him and his legacy,” Urban said.

The younger Urban joined General Construction after graduation from Texas A&M. He worked in management from 1984 until his retirement in 2003, growing General into the premier heavy marine construction company on the West Coast.

General Construction Co., with headquarters in Poulsbo, Wash., is a heavy civil construction contractor with marine, industrial, heavy civil and design-build capabilities owning one of the largest fleets of heavy marine equipment in the country. Recent projects for the firm include the new Oakland Bay Bridge and a major upgrade for the Boeing Company.

At Texas A&M Urban has served on advisory boards for the College of Architecture and its Construction Executive Program. In 2003 he designated A&M to receive the President’s Endowed Scholarship awarded annually by The Beavers Charitable Trust.

He and his wife have supported the Corps of Cadets and the 12th Man Foundation with previous gifts and co-hosted a dinner and fundraiser in Seattle for the One Spirit One Vision Campaign featuring former President Robert M. Gates.

The Urbans also support numerous charitable foundations, especially ones dedicated to helping children. They have six grandchildren and three adult sons. Johnathan, Texas A&M Class of 1996, is a site development manager for Wireless Facilities Inc. in Georgetown and manages the family ranch at San Saba. William manages an Expeditors International office in Brisbane, Calif. David is a minister currently founding his second church, I-90 Community Church, in Seattle, Wash.

The Beavers Inc., founded in 1955 by a group of dam builders including General Construction, is a social and honorary organization for companies and individuals in the heavy engineering construction industry. The Beavers Charitable Trust is a non-profit organization established in 1977 by The Beavers Inc. board of directors. The trust has provided over $3.6 million in scholarship grants and maintained over $3 million in endowed scholarships at 34 American schools of engineering and construction management.

“The purpose of the Beavers Charitable Trust is to invest in future leaders of the construction industry,” said Lynn E. Barr, Beavers Charitable Trust chairman. “While this chair is a new direction for the trust, we believe that a program focused on heavy construction will be a tremendous asset to Texas A&M, the students in the civil engineering program and the heavy construction industry.”

The Zachry Foundation is a long-time supporter of Texas A&M Engineering. A past gift of $10 million provides civil engineering with faculty chairs, professorships, scholarships and fellowships, and includes support for the department’s excellence fund, surveying camp and student advising services.

The Zachry Department of Civil Engineering is ranked 7th in undergraduate and 8th in graduate studies, according to U.S. News & World Report. The magazine ranks the Dwight Look College of Engineering 9th in undergraduate and 7th in graduate studies among public universities in the nation.

By Emily Whitmoyer