Virginia legislators awarded William H. Goodwin, Jr., longtime friend and benefactor of the VCU College of Engineering, the 2020 Outstanding Virginian Award. The resolution cites Goodwin’s leadership of Virginia’s business community and support of the commonwealth’s universities and philanthropic endeavors.

Goodwin and his wife Alice T. Goodwin were presented with framed copies of the Outstanding Virginian Award resolution in the Virginia General Assembly and Senate chambers Feb. 12, 2020. Their critical contributions to the VCU engineering program were noted in the award resolution.

“Bill Goodwin’s infectious enthusiasm for how an engineering education can impact people’s lives has had a significant impact on the focus on student-centered learning that is a hallmark of VCU Engineering. It has been an honor to work with him to build an institution that serves the needs of our region, indeed, of all Virginia,” said Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering.

Former VCU president Eugene Trani, Ph.D., and Goodwin, who is a mechanical engineer by training, were driving forces to create the VCU College of Engineering as a public-private partnership to support economic development across the region. The first students enrolled in 1996, and this May will mark VCU Engineering’s 20th graduating class. There are now more than 5,000 graduates of VCU’s engineering program. The vast majority of those graduates have made their careers in Virginia.