Wentworth honored the legacy of a pair of longtime Wentworth benefactors last fall, dedicating the Myles and Eugenia Sweeney Department of Construction Management at a ceremony on October 13.
The late Myles Sweeney, a Wentworth alumnus from the Class of 1928, and his wife Eugenia, who passed away in March 2017, are among the most generous donors in the history of the Institute. In the mid-1990s, they funded Sweeney Field on Huntington Avenue. The Sweeney Nanotechnology Lab is named for Mrs. Sweeney, as is the annual award for the female student-athlete at Wentworth who best combines athletic and academic excellence. During the campaign for the Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons, Mrs. Sweeney made a gift to support the Myles and Eugenia Sweeney Pavilion at the entrance to Beatty Hall.
The Sweeneys’ latest gift came in the form of a bequest of nearly $11 million, the largest in Wentworth’s history. The gift will be distributed to create an endowed, merit-based scholarship fund for women pursuing undergraduate engineering and construction management degrees. Money will also be allocated to develop a new concentration in real estate development.
Since Scott Sumner was named chair of the department in 2004, female enrollment has grown from 2 percent to 11 percent. He sees the Sweeneys’ commitment to construction management as a gift that will benefit students for many generations into the future.
“I think the scholarship will help not only bring in more students, but I think our retention rate will also continue to increase,” says Sumner. “It’s a great benefit to the department and a great benefit to Wentworth in general.”
President Zorica Pantic´ leads a toast to the Sweeney family. (Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian)
— Greg Abazorius
