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Summer 2008 • Volume 14, Issue 3
Robertson Memorial Field House Rendering | BU/Cat timeline | Midnight Munchies |
Wilderness Race | Presidents' Museums Tour | Bradley alum hosts NPR show |
BU student-athlete wins on The Price is Right
A timeline of the Bradley and Caterpillar relationship
1897
Lydia Moss Bradley founds Bradley Polytechnic Institute.
Bradley Hall
1909
Holt Manufacturing Co., Caterpillar Tractor’s predecessor, opens a factory in East Peoria.
Holt Manufacturing Co.
1939
Four-year engineering degree is added to Bradley curriculum.
1946
Bradley Polytechnic Institute becomes Bradley University.
Industrial Arts Division housed in Duryea Hall
1949
Caterpillar makes initial gift of $70,000 to Bradley.
1949
Technical College is renamed Bennett College, offering industrial education, automobile, drafting, metalwork, and electricity classes.
At right, Charles A. Bennett was a professor of industrial arts from 1897 to 1920.
1951
College of Engineering forms. Caterpillar provides co-op opportunities for students.
1954
Caterpillar Tractor donates $100,000 toward construction of engineering building–Jobst Hall.
1955
Caterpillar initiates the Educational Assistance Program, offering continuing education opportunities to employees.
1963
Caterpillar Tractor begins visiting professor lecture series at BU with “Concepts of Thermodynamics.”
1963
Cat chairman Louis Neumiller leads fund-raising after Bradley Hall is destroyed by fire.
1971
BU president Martin Abegg organizes Bradley-Caterpillar Conference. Cat executives spend a day on campus while BU deans and department chairs tour Caterpillar.
Dr. Martin G. Abegg ’47 in 1971
1976
Haussler Hall is dedicated, funded in part by a $250,000 gift from Caterpillar.
1979
Hartmann Center for Performing Arts is dedicated, funded in part by $300,000 gift from Caterpillar.
1979
Caterpillar begins matching gift program, matching gifts made by employees or retirees to Bradley and other charitable organizations.
1981
Caterpillar donates $100,000 for the Caterpillar Excellence Fund. Bradley is selected to participate in the Caterpillar Scholars program.
1983
Caterpillar Fellows program begins; provides financial support for research by junior faculty in business and engineering.
1986
Caterpillar announces a gift of $5.6 million to the Campaign for Bradley.
Caterpillar president George Schaefer
1991
“Management for the 1990s” executive certificate program is initiated and later renamed “Management for the 21st Century.” To date, more than 1,000 Caterpillar managers have participated, and the program continues to grow.
1994
Caterpillar pledges $20 million to the Bradley Centennial Campaign. Cat employees set $4 million goal for the campaign and surpass it with pledges of $5.3 million.
BU president John Brazil, Board of Trustees president Bob Viets, and Caterpillar president Don Fites
1994
Bradley establishes the Caterpillar Lecture Series.
1995
Bradley initiates the Caterpillar Dependents Scholarship Program.
1999
Bradley initiates and gives the Caterpillar name to the Endowed Professorships Program, New Initiatives Program, Graduate Fellowship Program, and Global Communications Center.
2000
Caterpillar Professorships are established and the first are awarded. Today, there are eight Caterpillar Professors on Bradley’s campus.
Dr. Kevin Stein, Illinois poet laureate, is a Caterpillar professor at Bradley.
2001
Bradley and Cat become founding members of Peoria NEXT, a collaboration focused on local science- and technology-based economic development.
2004
Bradley establishes The Fites Chair in the College of Engineering and Technology to honor Donald V. Fites, retired Caterpillar chair and CEO and chair of Bradley’s Centennial Campaign.
Donald V. Fites
2007
The 50,000 square-foot Innovation Center opens on Main Street in the heart of Renaissance Park. Built under a collaborative partnership between Peoria NEXT and the Heartland Commerce & Economic Development Foundation, the Center houses a technology incubator designed to stimulate regional development and new economic growth.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony
2008
Caterpillar announces a $30 million gift to Bradley — the largest in the University’s history — that includes two matching grants aimed at attracting an additional $18 million. Plans call for naming the College of Engineering and Technology in Caterpillar’s honor.
From left, Gerald Shaheen ’66 MBA ’68, president of the Bradley Board of Trustees and chair
of the Campaign for a Bradley Renaissance; President Joanne Glasser; Jim Owens, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO.
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