Gene Haas Foundation Awards $1 Million to DMT Department
De Anza College was recently awarded a $1 million gift by the Gene Haas Foundation to expand its Design and Manufacturing Technologies (DMT) classrooms and labs. The expansion and dedication event will be held later this year.
"We deeply appreciate this gift from the Gene Haas Foundation," said De Anza College President Brian Murphy. "The students of the DMT department, the college as a whole and the community will benefit tremendously from the foundation's generosity."
The college's DMT department contains some of the nation’s leading programs. It is National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS) accredited in machining, and offers approximately 35 courses including CAD, CAM, and CNC mill and lathe. De Anza is one of only a few colleges in California that is NIMS accredited.
More than 1,500 students enroll in the program annually. The department offers four certificates and three A.S. degrees. It has a robust advisory council that includes some of Silicon Valley’s leading employers.
“The Gene Haas Foundation Board has chosen to honor Gene's commitment to manufacturing education by investing in the top CNC programs in North America,” noted Kathy Looman, the foundation’s administrator. “De Anza College’s Design and Manufacturing Technologies Department is one of those stellar programs. Thanks to the leadership of Mike Appio, the college has been an integral part of the Haas Technical Education Centers (HTEC) network, a network of more than 3,000 schools worldwide that are training skilled programmers and operators for the manufacturing industry. Gene Haas will be very proud to have his name on this program.”