Fred Hamisch (second from left), AE Alumnus, Makes Generous Donation to the Department

The BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department would like to thank Frederick and Virginia Hamisch for their generous donation. Just before the New Year rang in, Fred and Ginny donated a $500,000 gift for the benefit of the BRAE Department's irrigation teaching program. The Hamischs' gift is one of the largest gifts ever made to the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department. Fred and Ginny credit Cal Poly with giving them a strong foundation from which to launch their careers and hope that this gift will provide future students the same opportunity.

Currently, the irrigation industry is facing a serious lack of trained personnel capable of designing and installing the vast irrigation systems throughout California and the rest of the United States. One of the most serious shortages is the lack of enough qualified people to work in irrigation dealerships– which is particularly important to Fred and Ginny. The shortage is in part due to the elimination of courses offered in irrigation by other major US universities, although the BRAE Department is constantly updating and expanding its offerings. Dr. Charles Burt and the Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) program at Cal Poly will assist the BRAE Department and the irrigation industry by offering this new series of high quality, web-based irrigation courses. These courses will be available to Cal Poly students, as well as to others anywhere in the US, and can be used for personal/professional enhancement as well as for credit toward degree programs at Cal Poly and other universities. The $500,000 donation from Fred and Ginny Hamisch will help make this initiative possible.

Dave Wehner, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, expressed, “This donation provides significant funding to develop educational resources for the irrigation industry. It will be the first disciplinary area where we will have the ability to offer distance learning courses to the public via the internet. The courses will have a tremendous impact on California because they will educate individuals on the design and installation of complex irrigation systems that are the heart of the agricultural industry.”

Fred Hamisch graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1963. His wife, Ginny, also attended Cal Poly for several years while studying elementary teacher education. Upon graduation, Fred joined the Marine Corp where he proudly served his country, before returning to civilian life and beginning his professional career in the irrigation industry. Fred began working at Hydratec in 1981 and purchased the company seven years later in 1988. Under Fred's direction the company made its business to deliver water economically and with the highest attention to conservation to the fields that produce the crops that provide the world its food and fiber.

Pictured Above (left to right): Dr. Richard Cavaletto, Fred Hamisch, Ginny Hamisch, Dr. Charles Burt (ITRC Chairman of the Board), Dr. Dave Wehner, and Dr. Stuart Styles (ITRC Director)