From her first visit to campus and meeting with civil and environmental engineering Professor Sam Clemence, Dawn Penniman ’90, G’ 97 knew Syracuse University was the place for her.

“Sam was so influential to me,” said Penniman. “When I met him, that was the lynchpin for why I wanted to come to Syracuse.”

After finishing her undergraduate degree in civil engineering, she started working at a firm in Syracuse and completed her master’s degree in environmental engineering while working full-time. Those degrees were the beginning of a career in hazardous waste investigation and remediation with Arcadis. Over the past thirty years she has been remediating sites and managing projects related to multiple facets of environmental engineering.

As she looks back at where her career, she sees the Orange roots that made it possible.

“I wanted to give back to the university,” said Penniman. “I am a very proud alum and I want to provide this opportunity to the next generation of engineers and computer scientists.”

Penniman worked with College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) development staff to document her planned gift. Once realized, her gift will support scholarships and programs for years to come.

“It was very easy to change the beneficiary on my 401K and the potential for helping others is incredible. I hope this will help encourage more young women to pursue STEM fields.

If you’d like to document a planned gift or bequest with ECS, please contact Amy Gullotta asgullot@syr.edu.