Local outlet covers Raytheon’s gift for student leadership suite
Civil engineering junior shares the student perspective.
Reuel Florendo answers Bri Pacelli’s interview questions for a KGUN9 News story on the planned Student Design and Innovation Center. Florendo says the building’s Raytheon Student Leadership Suite will foster collaboration and help groups working to benefit communities.
Dozens of clubs in the College of Engineering help students apply classroom learning and prepare for careers. The college’s Student Design and Innovation Center will house these clubs, as well as makerspaces, collaborative classrooms and an advising center.
Raytheon, an RTX Business, brought the SDIC’s construction closer with a $2 million gift commitment, which will name the Raytheon Student Leadership Suite.
Bri Pachelli from Tucson’s KGUN9 News spoke with Reuel Florendo for a March 19 story about what the suite will mean to students. Florendo is part of a team that won the Design-Build Institute of America’s national competition.
“Student clubs and organizations identify community challenges and propose solutions,” said the civil engineering junior, whose team presented the winning proposal for a comprehensive airport expansion at DBIA’s November 2024 contest.
The leadership suite will encourage engineering students from different disciplines to collaborate, said Florendo.
“It can foster new ideas that wouldn't have been possible in more secluded spaces.”
College leaders expect to begin construction on the 100,000-square-foot center in the next two to four years, with timing dependent on fundraising. This commitment builds on decades of university and college support. It also brings the college closer to realizing its goals to provide centralized resources for education and leadership training, said Larry Head, director of the Craig M. Berge Design Program.
“We’ve been working together for many years. Many of our graduates go to work for Raytheon,” Head told Bri Pachelli of KGUN9 News. “Their partnership in helping us improve the educational experience is really important.”
