Engineering budget met and raised

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — On the edge of campus, near the corner of Central Avenue and Paul Conn Parkway, the white outline of a building is painted. It holds the promise of a new engineering building. Since announcing the new building, the university has been working to fundraise for construction.

In February 2025, Dr. Paul Conn, university chancellor, set a budget of $15 million for the new engineering building and assured students the cost of the project will not come from students’ tuition bills. When interviewed again at the beginning of this semester, Conn announced the fundraising campaign was successful.

“We started in January when I asked the board to approve the project for $15 million and then I went out and tried to raise it. Thanks to a really big new donor, we’ve exceeded $15 million,” Conn said. “About two months ago, I raised the goal from $15 million to $17 million and the goal has been to do this all in the 2025 calendar year. We obviously still have a few months to go, and we’re well past the $15 million.” Conn said the “fundraising has been wonderful” and announced in September the university had surpassed the $17 million goal.

Vanessa Hammond, vice president of university relations, explains the budget was increased to assist in purchasing quality equipment and additional resources needed to fund the engineering program.

“The main focus of this fundraising campaign is the engineering building, but also some other components of the program like engineering scholarships and faculty incentives. It includes everything from the building to equipment and furnishings. Equipment is going to be a big part of this building and is needed to have a top-rate program,” Hammond said.

Local involvement by Eaton Corporation, a manufacturing and power management company in Cleveland, helped advance the campaign with a donation and promises of a future partnership with the program.

“They have a facility in town and they contacted us. We applied for and received a grant from the Eaton Charitable Fund, and they’re going to partner with the program,” Hammond said. “[Eaton will be] coming to speak to engineering students, host interns and partner in ways that not only support our students, but help to meet their workforce needs.”

With the rising demand for engineering, Hammond emphasizes that Lee will meet the education standards needed for the field.

“What we hear from a lot of the industry in this area is we need more engineers. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for this project,” Hammond said. “We’re going to have this degree program and have this nice building to provide this first-class education and training with our great faculty.”

The engineering building will be located on the south side of campus near the School of Nursing. Construction will begin in September after Lee receives proper permits and clearance from local government officials. The building is expected to open for classes in August 2026.