Donald E. Rathbone

Donald E. Rathbone, dean of the College of Engineering, also held the LeRoy C. and Aileen H. Paslay endowed chair. He received his bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, master’s degree from Northwestern University and doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh, all in electrical engineering.He taught at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Idaho, Northwestern University and K-State. He worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and served as a consultant to numerous industrial firms and government agencies including the National Academy of Sciences.

Rathbone was national chair of the Professional Engineers in Education and vice-president of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He is a distinguished alumnus from the University of Pittsburgh and Montana State University and is a member of the College of Engineering Hall of Fame at K-State.

Major accomplishments of the college during his tenure as dean were establishment of national Centers of Excellence such as the EPA Hazardous Substance Research Center, Advanced Manufacturing Institute and National Gas Machinery Laboratory. He secured more than $5 million of private funds matched by state funds to build Phase III of the engineering complex, which included a state-of-the-art engineering library as part of the $11 million building addition, Fiedler Hall. Phase II of the engineering complex is named for him.