Profiles in Giving
Hatim A. Tyabji ’69 has pledged a $1 million bequest in honor of his wife.
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UB Stories
“Get up”
by Harold M. Updike
In 1953, before my third year of college started, I had a month off and went home to Ithaca. I was living with my grandparents.
In the night I had to go to the bathroom — or so I thought. I got up...
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Contact Information:
Center For Tomorrow
Buffalo, NY 14260
Phone: 716.645.3312
Fax: 716.645.3838
Engineering Alumnus Supports New Building
Scott and Coleen Stevens
For Scott Stevens, BS ’79, building things is a way of life. Whether it’s fabricating concrete reinforcing steel through his successful business, Dimension Fabricators, Inc. in Schenectady, N.Y., or supporting his three sons and his wife, Coleen, BS ’79, PHHP, Stevens builds foundations that will last.
A licensed engineer with a concentration in structures and a member of the board of directors of the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, Stevens has put his UB engineering degree to good use. “I was one of the luckier ones,” he says. “I majored in civil engineering and stayed with it.” He learned early—through building homes while he was in high school—that he liked to create things and he enjoyed the outdoors.
After college he worked for Lockheed Martin in New Orleans, but came back home to central New York to raise a family. In 1984 he saw an opportunity to start his own business and founded Dimension. He and his company have had a part in some of the largest civil engineering projects on the eastern seaboard. From building bridges to tunnels to commercial buildings, Dimension has done so well that the company expanded a few years ago. Stevens employs about 40 people and they—machine operators, machinists, engineers and technicians—create spiral cylinders, rebar, cages, and threading and coupling. Nestled along the Mohawk River, the company has been a welcome presence in that region for more than 20 years.
Stevens is quick to express gratitude for the education he received at UB. “At UB I was taught how to learn; I was taught how to approach a problem and find a solution,” he said. “I received a good education for a good price.”
Scott and Coleen started dating while they were at UB. She majored in physical therapy. Together they have three sons, all of whom have expressed an interest in civil engineering. Two are in college studying civil engineering—at Clarkson and Northeastern; one has yet to choose a college. Stevens is pleased that his sons are following in his footsteps but what he wants most for them is that they are able to build lasting foundations like he has: in career and family.
It’s important to the Stevenses to give back, he says. They have been faithful supporters of various programs at UB, but engineering is the dearest to Scott’s heart, he says. Besides serving on the engineering school’s Dean’s Advisory Council, Scott has given faithfully to engineering, and he and Coleen have supported UB athletics, the libraries, and the School of Public Health and Health Professions.
This year they wanted to increase their support for the engineering school as a way to say thank you for their education. The Stevenses have pledged a five-year gift of $250,000 to support the new engineering building. The new building will modernize programs and facilities for the departments of computer science and engineering, and electrical engineering. Groundbreaking for the building, designed by renowned architects Perkins + Will, is slated for this April.
In addition to a clean room, the planned 130,000-square-foot structure will boast a "cybertorium" with sophisticated communications devices and smart technology and flexible research labs, classrooms and meeting areas for interdisciplinary work. The facility will allow UB to use existing buildings to expand its teaching in high-demand fields like bioengineering, and boost student enrollment.
“We appreciate the generosity of alumni like Scott,” said Dean Harvey J. Stenger Jr. “He and Coleen are helping us create a solid foundation for the school and UB. We are grateful.”