2008 Recipient
Walter T. Towner Jr. '83
Wally Towner, your remarkable service to WPI reaches far and wide, and we are pleased to publicly acknowledge the work of one of our most valued volunteers.
Through your work as a class agent, an inaugural Alumni Admissions Ambassador, Alumni Association Cabinet member and co-chair of the Service and Social Division, and a member of the Manufacturing Engineering Program Advisory Board, you have contributed time, energy, and knowledge to nearly every facet of the university. You bring a passionate commitment to everything you do for WPI, whether it’s recruiting for Admissions or helping to raise money from your class. You are also an active member of the Greek Alumni Council, the faculty advisor to Phi Gamma Delta, and an adjunct professor in the Management Department who also teaches in WPI’s Corporate and Professional Education programs and the Manufacturing Engineering Program.
You are quick to share your pride in WPI, and when you see a need at your alma mater, you aim to meet it. When WPI’s Manufacturing Engineering Program established its Haas Technical Center in 2001, for example, you secured a gift-in-kind from your employer to assist with the laboratory renovation.
Your contributions to the university community began when you were a student. You were a member of the Freshmen Orientation Committee, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and the crew team. You were a resident advisor and participated in Scuba Club. After you graduated, you embarked on your career, eventually serving as president of Thorsen Inc., a sheet metal fabricator. You earned an MBA from Babson College, completed the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1999, and received an MS in operations and information technology from WPI in 2001 and an MS in manufacturing engineering from WPI in 2003.
Your involvement with WPI has never faltered, even with the demands of work, family, and graduate school, and it has not go unnoticed. You received the John Boynton Young Alumni Award for Service to WPI in 2003, at which time you were described as having “connections to faculty, students, and staff that stood head and shoulders above many others.”
Wally Towner, your dedication to WPI continues to stand head and shoulders above the rest, and it is with great joy that we honor you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: October 14, 2008 16:33:50