News Release

Willard Hackerman, president and CEO of Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., has committed $5 million to the Johns Hopkins University G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering to establish the Hackerman Polytechnic Scholarships.

The scholarships will provide full tuition for graduates of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute who have been admitted to the Whiting School as undergraduates.

"The Whiting School is committed to educating the best and the brightest to be the next generation of engineers," said Nicholas Jones, dean of the School of Engineering. "Our students come from all over the world, and Mr. Hackerman's gift ensures we're attracting exceptional individuals who live right here in our city."

It is anticipated that the Hackerman Polytechnic Scholarships will — for 25 years — enable three students per class from Polytechnic Institute to attend Johns Hopkins. The scholarships, which will begin with this fall's freshman class at Johns Hopkins, will cover all four years of undergraduate tuition, which stands at $30,140 for the 2004-2005 academic year.

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute is a city-wide high school offering college preparatory curricula, with an emphasis on science, mathematics and engineering.

Recent years have seen relatively few college-bound Baltimore City public school students entering Johns Hopkins. As part of the university's new Baltimore Scholars Program — which offers a full-tuition scholarship to any Baltimore City resident and graduate of the city public schools admitted to Johns Hopkins — the Hackerman Polytechnic Scholarships will help attract local graduates interested in engineering.

"What this is really about is stewardship," said Barney J. Wilson, principal of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. "It is a story of a hometown person who graduated from Poly and Johns Hopkins and is equally proud of both. The real winner in this whole thing is the entire community of Baltimore and the region."

Hackerman is a 1935 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. His involvement with Johns Hopkins spans seven decades. A 1938 graduate of the School of Engineering, he has served on the university's board of trustees and is still active as a trustee emeritus. He has been with Whiting-Turner since his graduation and played a key role in naming the School of Engineering for his late employer and mentor, G.W.C. Whiting.

Along with his wife, Lillian Patz Hackerman, Hackerman has been a generous donor to Johns Hopkins, making gifts including $6 million to establish the Hackerman-Patz Patient and Family Pavilion at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. The pavilion provides families of patients undergoing prolonged cancer treatment a home away from home. An earlier gift of $5 million funded laboratories in the Bunting-Blaustein Cancer Research Building.

Hackerman also has supported Johns Hopkins students and faculty through the establishment of the Hackerman Engineering Student Loan Fund, the Abel Wolman Professorship in Environmental Engineering, and the Willard and Lillian Hackerman Chair in Radiation Oncology.

Including this most recent gift, commitments to the Johns Hopkins Knowledge for the World campaign total more than $1.65 billion, more than 82 percent of the $2 billion goal. Priorities of the fund-raising campaign, which benefits both The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, include strengthening endowment for student aid and faculty support; advancing research, academic, and clinical initiatives; and building and upgrading facilities on all campuses. The campaign began in July 2000 and is scheduled to end in 2007.