Civil Engineering Professorship at UNL Honors Life of Alumnus

An alumnus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be remembered by his family and colleagues through the creation of an endowed professorship in civil engineering.

The Leslie D. Martin Civil Engineering Professorship has been established as a permanently endowed fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation to honor Martin while providing annual resources to a faculty member in the UNL Department of Civil Engineering.

The fund of $470,000 was established with gifts from Martin's family, including his wife Vera Martin of Bella Vista, Ark., and brother Lanny Martin of Denver.

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, an organization to which Martin belonged and served, also provided a $10,000 gift to the fund through memorial gifts made by its members.

"My brother Les loved the state of Nebraska, the university and civil engineering," said Lanny Martin, "He would be so pleased to know we have commemorated his life in this way."

David H. Allen, dean of the College of Engineering, said he is grateful for the generosity of Martin's family and colleagues.

"Civil engineering is one of the college's foremost research areas," he said. "The creation of the Leslie D. Martin Civil Engineering Professorship, as the first for our civil engineering program, is a fitting tribute to Mr. Martin's life and the work he enjoyed."

The college will award the professorship to an individual who demonstrates teaching, research and academic leadership in the field of civil-structural engineering, Allen said. The recipient will receive an annual stipend from the fund.

Leslie Martin received a bachelor's of science in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska in 1954. In 1970 he joined the Consulting Engineers Group where he worked for 25 years and served as president of its Chicago office. In addition to managing numerous design projects for public and private clients, Martin held leadership positions with the professional associations Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute and American Concrete Institute.

In 1992, Martin won the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute's Robert J. Lyman Award for authoring an article about the design and construction of the Connecticut Tennis Center, and in 2002 he was awarded its highest honor for his longtime professional contributions.

Leslie Martin and his wife of 52 years, Vera Martin, who also attended the University of Nebraska, lived in various places but "felt their hearts were always with Nebraska," said Lanny Martin.

The University of Nebraska Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization raising private gifts to support the University of Nebraska for more than 70 years. More than $87 million was provided last year for students, faculty, academic programs, research and campus capital improvements. More information is available at www.nufoundation.org.