Philanthropist Jack Baskin inducted into Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame

Jack Baskin, whose steadfast support led to the establishment and rapid growth of the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will be inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Friday, February 24. The induction ceremony is part of the Silicon Valley Engineering Council's annual Engineer's Week Banquet at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara.

The Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame recognizes local engineers for outstanding professional achievement and significant contributions to the Silicon Valley community. The other inductees this year are Thomas Kailath, Hitachi America Professor Emeritus at Stanford University; Sass Somekh, president of Novellus Systems; and Lotfi Zadeh, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley.

Baskin has been actively supporting engineering programs at UCSC for over two decades, providing guidance to faculty and university leadership as well as generous financial support. In 1997, his gift of $5 million helped launch the Baskin School of Engineering. His donations to the engineering school now total almost $8 million.

Baskin earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from New York University and built a successful development company that worked on commercial, industrial, and public construction projects throughout California. He has served as a UCSC Foundation trustee since 1978 and was honored last year as the first recipient of UCSC's "Fiat Lux Award."

The Jack Baskin School of Engineering, UCSC's first professional school, has emerged as a distinctive engineering school with a unique focus on the critical areas of information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.