Rogers endows fellowship

John Rogers, one of the founding fathers of the Construction Engineering and Management Program, is now the first to endow a gift to the program for graduate fellowships. "The Construction Engineering and Management Program is one of the most important programs for engineers. Those that get ahead are those that become managers and that's what this is all about," says Rogers.

John Rogers (19K JPG)

Rogers attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1926 to 1929. His career as a civil engineer began on a project for the C & O Railroad during the Great Depression. In 1933, he worked on the San Gabriel Dam, the largest earth-fill dam at the time. During World War ll, Rogers assisted the war effort with two major projects. He served as general superintendent for the construction of Kingsbury Ordinance Plant at LaPorte, Indiana. The project was completed in record time. Rogers also worked on the construction of the 1,466-foot Teslin River Bridge, on the Alcan (Alaskan) Highway. He served as superintendent on the military supply route for nearly six months between 1943 and '44. His 250-man camp split into two shifts, each working 70-hour weeks and braving temperatures as low as 50 below zero.

A sampling of other notable projects include the Lough Tunnel and Clarksburg Tunnel Number One for B&O Railroad, the West Virginia Turnpike Tunnel, the main bridges of the West Virginia Turnpike 13 and the underground parking garage surrounding the Ohio state capitol building.

In the 1960s, Rogers held positions of Executive Vice-President and Treasurer of Bates and Rogers Co. In 1979 he was elected chair and chief executive officer.

Rogers has left a lasting impression on the face of America's landscape and in the process set an example of excellence.

He was married in 1933 to Ruth Woods Stiles. They have one daughter. John Rogers currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts.