In February 2006, the College of Architecture’s Technical Reference Center (TRC) received a collection of books from retired professor, Jac de Jong. He donated 21 boxes including 424 books, 23 journals and 22 miscellaneous pamphlets.

de Jong joined the College of Architecture faculty in 1978 and over 18 years taught more than 25 different courses in architecture, urban planning, environmental design and construction science. He also served as coordinator of the graduate program in construction science — the job, he said, he enjoyed most.

He retired in 1996, when his wife became ill and passed away. An illness has since robbed de Jong of his sight. In a telephone conversation Thursday, the retired professor said he would be making additional donations to both the colleges of architecture and engineering.

“ After separating what we need for our collection, about one-third of the donated material will be presented to Evans Library,” said Paula Bender, coordinator of learning resources at the TRC. “They too are appreciative of Dr. de Jong’s gift. We are preparing an itemized acknowledgement for him now.”