January 16, 2007

Day Family Establishes Fellowship Endowment

Day (Photo: submitted)

A distinguished alumnus and his family have established an endowment for graduate fellowships in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University.

Wayne T. and Mary Grace Day endowed a gift of $260,614 to the department in September. The gift will establish the Wayne T. Day Family Fellowship Fund.

”We are grateful for this generous gift from the Day family,“ said Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering. ”This endowment will help us continue building our chemical and biomolecular engineering program, which is already one of the best in the nation.“

Wayne Day graduated from NC State in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. Five years later, he began a long and distinguished career at John J. Kirlin, Inc., a Rockville, Md., mechanical contracting business. He eventually rose to the ranks of president and CEO, serving in those capacities from 1984 until his retirement in 2006. Under his leadership, Kirlin grew tenfold and opened offices in Raleigh; Baltimore, Md.; Columbia, S.C.; and in Tampa, Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

The company has undertaken projects at many notable locations, including The White House, U.S. Capitol, U.S. Supreme Court and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The company was honored with a contract to help restore the Pentagon following the 9/11 attack.

Day served on the board of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America and was its president in 1998. He is a Holladay Lifetime Giving Society member, a Frank Seely Society member, and a lifetime Alumni Association member. The football field at Carter-Finley Stadium was named the Wayne T. Day Family Field in recognition of his generous support of the university.

Day was named a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 2007. The award honors alumni whose accomplishments further their field and reflect favorably on the university.

— degraff —

Media contact:
Nate DeGraff, (919) 515-3848 (office), (336) 253-2893 (cell), nate_degraff@ncsu.edu

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