2001 Recipients
August C. Kellermann '46
Augie Kellermann, you have stepped forward to serve WPI on many occasions, earning distinction as a class leader and a valued friend. You have committed yourself to the welfare and success of WPI by serving on the steering committees for your 40th and 55th gift campaigns, generously supporting these efforts yourself. Your greatest accomplishment was your service as chair of your 50th Anniversary Gift campaign.
Under your leadership, the Class of 1946 presented the largest 50th Reunion gift in WPI history. Your class and the Class of 1956 were the first to present a gift in excess of $1 million. This accomplishment is even more remarkable because the Class of 1946 is one of WPI's most disjointed classes due to the effects of the World War II V-12 Program. Through your efforts, the class was unified and the results were dramatic. As further testimony of your commitment to the future of the university, you are a lifetime member of the President's Advisory Council, a Presidential Founder, and a member of the Alden Society, which is committed to providing future resources through estate and other planned gifts.
Your many additional roles have demonstrated the strength of your support for WPI. Your contributions as a member of your Class Board of Directors, the Fund Board, the Reunion Program Committee and the Northern New Jersey Alumni Club have made WPI and the Alumni Association stronger.
Augie Kellermann, in recognition of your leadership and commitment to WPI, it is an honor to present you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
Richard A. Coffey Jr. '51
Dick Coffey, your commitment to serve your alma mater has been the hallmark of your volunteer career at WPI. You have stepped forward willingly, demonstrating a sense of dedication that has won you the admiration of your classmates and the university. Your volunteer career at WPI began a little more than a decade ago, but you have contributed more in that time than others have through several decades of service. As a class representative to the Alumni Council and chair of your Class Board of Directors, you have given generously of your time in service to the Class of 1951. As chair of your 40th, 45th and 50th Reunion Committees, you've gone the extra mile to ensure that these events were enjoyable and successful. In everything you've done, you've set an example for other class volunteers to follow.
Your service as a volunteer has had an impact on other Alumni Association activities. As president of the Tech Old Timers, you guided this well-run organization during the past year, producing highly regarded monthly programs. Your additional contributions as a member of the Anniversary Gift Steering Committee and chair of the Springfield Regional Alumni Club have made WPI and the association stronger. Most remarkably, you were able to accomplish this by balancing the demands of your family and career.
Dick Coffey, it is with great pride and appreciation that we present you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
Raymond R. Hagglund '56
Ray Hagglund, you've stepped forward to serve WPI on so many occasions and in such varied capacities over the last 40 years, you've earned a special place in WPI history. Committed faculty member, teacher, advisor and mentor to two generations of undergraduate and graduate students, you have also given freely of your time and resources as a dedicated alumnus.
You enrolled at WPI in 1951, an event that changed your life forever. Your active four years on campus included membership in Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Phi Sigma Kappa and Skull. In 1956, you earned a degree in mechanical engineering. Rather than starting a career in private industry, you were convinced by Professor Ken Scott to pursue an advanced degree and a career in teaching. And with that you began a lifelong commitment to WPI and its students.
In 1962 you introduced the concept of project-based learning to the freshman year. With this visionary approach to teaching, you became enthusiastically involved in the development of the WPI Plan. When the need for an IQP office arose, you rolled up your sleeves and led an unprecedented grassroots effort to renovate the third floor of the Washburn Shops, an effort that involved the sweat equity of faculty, students, staff, and members of the physical plant union.
You have generously supported your alma mater as a member of the President's Advisory Council, the Alden Society and the Presidential Founders. You have contributed to many fund-raising campaigns through the years, as both a leadership donor and an active volunteer. You have served as a solicitor for the PAC, a member of the 40th Anniversary Gift Committee and co-chair of the faculty and staff campaign for The Campaign for WPI.
You have generously given of your time as a member of your class board and numerous class reunion committees and as the faculty representative to the Alumni Association. You served as secretary of the faculty from 1991 to 1994, and worked on a number of high-level committees to address important strategic issues facing your alma mater.
You have also enjoyed your share of professional honors. You received a summer faculty fellowship at NASA's Manned Space Flight Center and the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Teaching, and were named the first Kenneth G. Merriam Professor. In 1999 you received the Morgan Distinguished Instructorship.
Ray Hagglund, it is with great appreciation that we honor you for the extraordinary way in which you have helped carry on a legacy of alumni involvement and support, a legacy that is one of your alma mater's proudest traditions, by presenting you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.
John W. Powers '61
John Powers, the many volunteer roles you have played over the years are testimony to your dedication to WPI. Your volunteer career at your alma mater began in the early 1970s when you served as secretary and later president of the Connecticut Valley Alumni Club. Through the years, you have also served as an alumni admissions volunteer and an Alumni Council representative.
As a Presidential Founder and a member of both the President's Advisory Council and the Alden Society, you have not only supported WPI generously, but have freely volunteered your time—as a head class agent, a PAC solicitor, and an active member of both your 25th and 40th Anniversary Gift Campaigns. Your quiet but persuasive nature has encouraged countless classmates and fellow alumni to join you in investing in WPI.
A member of the Alumni Fund Board since 1995, you now serve as chair of the Alumni Funds Board. Prior to your election as chair, you headed up the Annual Alumni Fund Committee, where you led an important effort to organize and recruit over 1,500 class volunteers to launch reunion and anniversary gift campaigns in support of The Campaign for WPI. Since the beginning of the campaign, your leadership has helped generate some impressive results. The Annual Fund has doubled from $1 million to $2 million in the last five years, setting new records each year; the percentage of alumni who give annually has grown from 24 to over 28. Moreover, alumni gifts make up over $65 million of the cash and commitments received in support of the campaign, to date.
Your professional career also has been closely linked to your alma mater. Joining Tighe and Bond in 1968, you succeeded Ed Bayon '31 as president in 1989 and turned over the reins of leadership to David Healy '69 a decade later. As chairman of the board, you now oversee one of the oldest continually operating engineering firms in New England, one with a history of prominent environmental engineering projects across the United States and overseas. With 15 WPI graduates employed by the firm, Tighe and Bond was among the first to step forward to invest in WPI's new Campus Center and to have its logo prominently displayed on the Corporate Partners Wall.
John Powers, in recognition of your leadership, support, steadfast commitment, and talents as an accomplished fund-raiser, it is an honor to present you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
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