Through a generous gift, Dale and Pat Hatfield recently enabled the creation of the first endowed professorship associated with the ATLAS Institute. The Dale and Pat Hatfield ATLAS Endowed Professorship in the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) will support the Hatfield Professor, who will teach and conduct research in interdisciplinary technology and engineering.
While pursuing a six-decade-long career of service spanning industry, academia and government, including serving as chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC, Dale has also maintained a long and deep relationship with the University of Colorado Boulder, including teaching in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program beginning in 1982, and, more recently, holding leadership roles within the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship. In May 2008, CU Boulder awarded Dale with an Honorary Doctor of Science degree for, inter alia, his commitment to the development of interdisciplinary telecommunications studies. Each Maymester, Dale co-teaches a class in radio spectrum management, a field that has grown in importance as wireless systems become increasingly essential to the economic and social well-being of people everywhere.
Having devoted almost his entire career to interdisciplinary activities in the field of information and communication technologies, Dale, along with Pat, have long been enthusiastic supporters of ATLAS. A previous gift helped create the Pat Hatfield and Jill Dupré Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides support for ATLAS graduate students. ATLAS Associate Director Jill Dupré says, “Over the years I’ve had the privilege of meeting often with both Pat and Dale Hatfield. We share a mutual passion for leadership, telecommunications and community. Pat radiates kindness and calm that puts students from global communities at ease and helps ATLAS create an environment of inclusiveness, mutual respect and fun. We are deeply grateful to Dale and Pat for their generous support."
In making the gift, Dale stated, “I have always had great admiration for Professor Mark Gross, Jill Dupré, and the rest of the team at ATLAS for their devotion to interdisciplinary studies to help resolve society’s most pressing challenges and, most importantly, for the results that they have already achieved. I hope Pat's and my gift will inspire others to support the ATLAS Institute, CEAS and CU Boulder more generally.”
