Heritage & History
- Fred W. Beaufait
- 1999-2004
A nationally recognized leader in engineering education, former dean of Wayne State University’s College of Engineering, and formerly director of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Greenfield Coalition based in Detroit, Dr. Fred W. Beaufait became the seventh president of New York City College of Technology in January 1999.
Much in Beaufait’s past served to prepare him for his position at City Tech. While he was dean of Wayne State’s College of Engineering, it joined other prestigious universities and corporations collaborating in the Greenfield Coalition, a project that continues to take undergraduate education to the workplace and provides inner-city minority youth the opportunity to become part of the engineering profession. Beaufait was named director of the coalition in January 1996.
Prior to his appointment at Wayne State University, Beaufait was chair of West Virginia University’s Department of Civil Engineering and later associate dean for academic affairs and research at its College of Engineering. Earlier, he was a member of the faculty of Vanderbilt University, where he served as assistant dean for engineering education and director of the civil engineering program. He had been a Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool, England, at the University of Wales University College, Cardiff, and at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Azcapotzalco, Mexico.
A professional engineer, Beaufait received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University, an MS in structures from the University of Kentucky and a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He has published 40 technical and professional papers, delivered an equal number of presentations, authored two textbooks, and is recipient of numerous awards, including the American Society for Engineering Education’s Centennial Medallion, the ASEE Civil Engineering Division’s George K. Waldin Award and the most prestigious Gold Award from the Engineering Society of Detroit’s Affiliate Council.
While at City Tech, Beaufait was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the government of France for his role in creating an international student exchange program with the University of Paris and his unique contributions to French language and culture. During his presidency, the number of baccalaureate programs increased to 16 and baccalaureate student enrollment to nearly 4,000. The College also aggressively pursued funding for the construction of a new academic building on the site of the present Klitgord Center, a project slated to be the first public-private partnership in major construction on a CUNY campus.
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