The Boeing Company has long supported higher education in the belief that the quality of its employees' education has a direct impact upon the quality of the company's products and services. Boeing and the OSU College of Engineering enjoy a close, long-term relationship. Many OSU graduates have made their careers at Boeing, several rising to senior positions.

In 1992, the Boeing Company earned the double distinction of becoming the first corporation to endow a position at Oregon State University, and making the first gift to endow a professorship in the College of Engineering.

Thanks to the Boeing commitment, OSU is strengthening its work in integrated design and manufacturing—areas critical for future competitive product development and the training of future generations of students in this field.

The Boeing Professorship of Mechanical Engineering Design is held by an outstanding specialist in design engineering whose duties include teaching undergraduate and graduate students, developing new courses in design engineering, and working to maintain and enhance the strong relationship between industry and OSU's manufacturing engineering program.

Boeing Professors are selected on the basis of criteria established jointly by Boeing and OSU, and must be recognized leaders in design that requires advanced manufacturing and supporting methodologies.

Current Faculty Holder

Richard Wirz