November 28, 2005
Philanthropist Jack Baskin chosen for Silicon
Valley Engineering Hall of Fame
By Tim Stephens
Jack Baskin, whose steadfast support led to the establishment
and rapid growth of UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering, has
been selected for induction into the Silicon Valley Engineering
Hall of Fame. The Silicon Valley Engineering Council (SVEC)
announced the Hall of Fame winners last week during the group's
annual open house at the Computer History Museum in Mountain
View.
Jack Baskin is being honored for
outstanding professional achievement and significant
contributions to the Silicon Valley community.
Photo: r. r. jones
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Baskin and four other distinguished engineering leaders will
be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony hosted
by the SVEC on February 24, 2006. The Silicon Valley Engineering
Hall of Fame recognizes local engineers for outstanding professional
achievement and significant contributions to the Silicon Valley
community.
The other inductees are Thomas Kailath,
Hitachi America professor emeritus at Stanford University; Jerry
Sanders, chairman of the board emeritus at Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD); Sass Somekh, president of Novellus Systems; and Lotfi
Zadeh, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences
at UC Berkeley. Baskin and Sanders were both nominated for this
honor by Steve Kang, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering
and a former president of the SVEC.
"It is a great pleasure to see these deserving nominees
selected for the Hall of Fame," Kang said. "Jerry
Sanders is considered one of the architects of Silicon Valley
and one of its best CEOs. Jack Baskin's commitment to bettering
the community is reflected in both his professional activities
and his long history of active involvement and support for engineering
at UC Santa Cruz."
Baskin, who earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from
New York University, built a successful development company
that worked on commercial, industrial, and public construction
projects throughout California. In 1967, Baskin moved to Palo
Alto from southern California and sought to fill what he saw
as a serious need for affordable housing in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Now retired, he is a leading philanthropist in the
Santa Cruz community.
Baskin has been actively supporting engineering programs at
UCSC for over two decades, providing guidance to faculty and
university leadership as well as generous financial support.
In 1997, his gift of $5 million helped launch the Baskin School
of Engineering. His donations to the engineering school now
total almost $8 million. Baskin, who has served as a UCSC Foundation
trustee since 1978, was recently honored as the first recipient
of UCSC's "Fiat Lux Award."
"His leadership, support, and guidance in the creation
of the Baskin School of Engineering will have a long-term impact
through the preparation of students for engineering careers
that will enhance the quality of life for many generations to
come," Kang said.
Jerry Sanders, the visionary cofounder of AMD, led the company
to become one of the leading semiconductor manufacturers in
the world. He also cofounded several prominent industry groups,
including the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Santa
Clara Manufacturing Group, the Semiconductor Research Corporation,
SEMATECH, and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation.
Sanders earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Kang, who served as
professor and department head of electrical and computer engineering
at UIUC before coming to UCSC, knew Sanders as one of his department's
most distinguished alumni. Sanders endowed a chair in electrical
and computer engineering at UIUC in 2001.
The induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame awards is held
as part of the SVEC's annual Engineer's Week Banquet in February.
Inductees are selected on the basis of professional achievement,
service to the profession, and service to the community.
The SVEC, founded in 1989, is an alliance of professional societies
in the Silicon Valley representing 30,000 engineers, scientists,
and technologists in the region. Its purpose is to assist its
member engineering and technical organizations in Silicon Valley
to better serve their members and the community.
The Jack Baskin School of Engineering, UCSC's first professional
school, has emerged as a distinctive engineering school with
a unique focus on the critical areas of information technology,
biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
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