New giving by Dave Meehl, center, has created the first endowed directorship at Penn State Behrend. He celebrated the agreement with Penn State Behrend Chancellor Ralph Ford, at left, and Tim Kurzweg, the James R. Meehl Director of the School of Engineering.
ERIE, Pa. — New giving by Dave Meehl, a retired financial officer who worked at accounting firms, food companies and at Lakeshore Community Services, will provide $5 million to Penn State Behrend’s schools of engineering and science.
A $3 million gift will establish Behrend’s first school directorship: The James R. Meehl Director of the School of Engineering. The gift is named for Meehl’s late father, who worked at and later owned Eureka Electrical Products, the oldest continuously operated company in Erie County.
An additional $2 million estate commitment will provide ongoing support in Behrend’s School of Engineering and School of Science.
“We appreciate the vision and commitment that shaped these gifts,” Chancellor Ralph Ford said. “The support of the Meehl family has accelerated the growth of Penn State Behrend in recent years. Our students and faculty have directly benefited from Dave’s vision and his intentional support of an array of programs at the college, including the School of Engineering, the School of Science and Behrend athletics.
“The new Meehl directorship, in particular, elevates both the School of Engineering and its leadership,” Ford said. “It positions us to do even more with the academic and research programs that already distinguish Penn State Behrend as a leader in engineering and innovation.”
The directorship gift will enhance innovative academic programs, student support and cutting-edge research in the School of Engineering, which is ranked among the nation’s best undergraduate engineering programs, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Funding will be used to purchase equipment and expand research and teaching labs in Burke Center and the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Center.
“This funding will help us recruit and retain high-performing faculty members and support them in the early years of their careers, as they develop their preliminary research and begin to bring in external research funding,” said Tim Kurzweg, the director of the School of Engineering. He will be the first to hold the Meehl directorship title.
The directorship continues a pattern of giving at Behrend that honors James Meehl. In 2023, Dave Meehl created the endowment that expanded and named the James R. Meehl Innovation Commons, a product design and prototyping lab that anchors both the Invent Penn State network and the Northwest Pennsylvania Innovation Beehive Network.
The estate commitment to the School of Science is in part a tribute to Dave Meehl’s son, Aaron, who earned a degree in biology at Behrend in 2012.
“The Meehl family has always believed that education is the best way to increase the quality of life for individuals and society,” Dave Meehl said. “We greatly appreciate that Penn State Behrend has allowed us the opportunity to improve teaching and research in the School of Engineering with this gift.”
The creation of the James R. Meehl Director of the School of Engineering and the estate gift supporting the Behrend School of Engineering and School of Science advances the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni, grateful parents and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach, and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.
Robb Frederick
Assistant director, news and information, Penn State Behrend
