Jesse W. Mason was nearing the end of a long and influential tenure at the Institute when he learned his name would grace the new civil engineering building on campus.
Mason served on Tech’s faculty from 1938-72. He was a Regents professor in chemical engineering, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and later dean of the College of Engineering.
According to Dress Her in White and Gold, the history of Tech written by Robert Wallace, Institute President Blake Van Leer selected Mason to head a committee to create an advanced plan for academics at Tech. And later, Mason was an instrumental faculty member in selecting Van Leer’s successor, Edwin Harrison. “We … wanted a man who would work with the faculty to promote a greater Tech, as well as one who would do an outstanding job in representing us before the Regents, the alumni and the general public,” Mason said.
Since the Jesse W. Mason Building opened its doors in 1969, it has been the home away from home for civil engineering students at Tech. The five-story, 90,000-square-foot structure was lauded for its cutting-edge classroom design and technology.
In the decades since, slide rules have given way to computers, and all of that foot traffic has worn down the building’s halls. On a trip through the Panama Canal in April 2012, alumni Howard Tellepsen, CE 66, and John Huff, CE 68, heard about the Mason Building’s deteriorating condition and decided to act. Several hours later, they had raised nearly $1 million, and a restoration effort was underway.
The $10.5 million renovation project will leave the major structural components intact, but already construction crews have cleared out asbestos, upgraded HVAC systems and
installed a new sprinkler system.
Other efforts include making the space more useful and comfortable for students and making Mason more environmentally friendly.
“The Mason Building was hemorrhaging energy—and money—with the old heating and air conditioning units,” said Jimmy Mitchell, CE 05, the sustainability director at Skanska and a leader of the renovation project. “The new building design will give students more places where they can collaborate with other students and faculty on projects. That will make a world of difference when they work in the field.”
That type of forward thinking would be music to the ears of the building’s future-focused namesake.
For more information on the renovation project, visit mason.ce.gatech.edu.
Clockwise, from upper left: The Mason Building shortly after its 1969 construction. Jesse W. Mason. An artist’s rendering of the renovated Mason Building interior.
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