COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland alum Stanley R. Zupnik ‘59 has made a $25 million commitment toward a new building that will help prepare new generations of engineers and foster collaboration between disciplines in the A. James Clark School of Engineering.
“The knowledge and discipline I gained at Maryland were unbelievable, because they taught me how to think,” says Zupnik. “I’ve benefited from other people’s hard work and knowledge—now I take the opportunity to give back.”
Named in his honor, Stanley R. Zupnik Hall will be the new home of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and will include Mechanical Engineering and the Quantum Technology Center. It will feature collaboration space for institutional and business partners, including the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology, as well as interdisciplinary research labs, instructional labs, a seminar classroom, and office, conference and meeting spaces, and space for student organizations.
“Mr. Zupnik is a native of Washington, an established business owner and entrepreneur, and a philanthropist supporting numerous community organizations. He has long-standing ties to the University of Maryland as both an alumnus and Terp parent,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “With this new commitment, his largest ever to our campus, Stanley expands his legacy at Maryland and will ultimately provide a world-class facility and opportunities for generations of students and faculty to come.”
A third-generation Washington, D.C., businessman, Zupnik is president and CEO of Majestic Builders, a construction and real estate development company. Following successful ventures into harness racing and air charter, he co-founded Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises, where he was a co-owner and served as president from 1982 to 1994. With Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises, he produced several films, including the critically acclaimed “Glengarry Glen Ross.”
“We believe that the technological challenges we face today—ones that can reshape the world like safer and more accessible sources of power, sustainable infrastructure, autonomous transportation systems, and the future of the built environment—will be solved by engineers. This new facility will advance the search for solutions in these areas and more,” said A. James Clark School of Engineering Dean Samuel Graham, Jr. “We’re incredibly appreciative of Stanley Zupnik’s commitment to Maryland Engineering. Combined with our existing facilities, Zupnik Hall will grow an ecosystem of cross-disciplinary collaboration that will enable us to discover the innovative solutions that society needs.”
Zupnik has been an active UMD alumnus and has been contributing to Maryland for almost 40 years. His philanthropic legacy includes the Stanley R. Zupnik Fellowship Fund for graduate students, the Stanley R. Zupnik Endowed Scholarship for undergraduate civil engineering students, and the naming of Stanley R. Zupnik Lecture Hall in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building and the Stanley R. Zupnik ’59 Forum in A. James Clark Hall.
The majority of the $25 million commitment will go toward long-term support for academic programs within the building once complete, and a portion will help fund the building’s construction. Major funding for Stanley R. Zupnik Hall is made possible by a partnership between the state of Maryland and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation’s Building Together: An Investment for Maryland. A ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony for the 157,000-square-foot facility will be held in November 2022.