An endowment established by a charter member of West Virginia University’s Academy of Chemical Engineers will provide undergraduate scholarship support to students interested in studying in the discipline.

J. Reginald “Reg” and Billie Dietz established the Ruckman and Balmy Dietz Scholarship Fund in honor of Reg’s mother and father. The $25,000 endowment was created through the WVU Foundation in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The campaign is a $750 million fundraising effort being conducted by the Foundation on behalf of the University.

“I’d like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Dietz for establishing this scholarship in the Department of Chemical Engineering,” said Rakesh Gupta, department chair. “It will help us in attracting and retaining some of the most talented students in the discipline.’

Dietz earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from West Virginia University in 1952, 1954, and 1956, respectively. Upon graduation, he joined National Steel Corporation at its Great Lakes Steel Division as an assistant metallurgist. He transferred to National Steel’s new Research and Development Department in Weirton in 1959 as senior research engineer. He advanced through several jobs in Research and Development becoming assistant director in 1963, director in 1969 and then vice president in 1978. After 30 years of service with National Steel, he retired in 1986.

Dietz is a past president of the WVU Alumni Association, former chairman of the WVU Board of Advisors and also former member of the Board of Directors of the WVU Foundation, Inc. He was inducted into the WVU Order of Vandalia 1987. His wife, the former Billie Jewell Kast, is a 1955 graduate of WVU.

—WVU—

mcd/07/16/12

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CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon
304-293-4086; mary.dillon@mail.wvu.edu