Arthur J. Bond

Arthur J. Bond
Born	1939
Died	December 30, 2012(2012-12-30) (aged 73)
Nationality	American
Education	Purdue University, BSEE, MSEE, PhD
Occupation(s)	Electrical Engineer, Academic
Known for	Dean of Engineering and Technology at Alabama A&M University, Co-Founder of the National Society of Black Engineers

Arthur J. Bond (1939 – December 30, 2012) was the dean of the School of Engineering and Technology at Alabama A&M University in Alabama, United States, and an activist in the cause of increasing black enrollment and retention in engineering and technology. He was a founding member of the National Society of Black Engineers and part of the team that fought for state funding of engineering at Alabama A&M University.

Education

Bond came to Purdue University in 1957 to study electrical engineering on National Merit Scholarship and Purdue's Special Merit Scholarship.<ref name=":0">"Arthur J. Bond". College of Engineering - Purdue University. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref> He describes always having been interested in electrical engineering, and ending up at Purdue by luck, recounting that "My high school principal's son was interested in engineering at Purdue... One day they were going for a visit to campus, and they asked me if I wanted to come."<ref name=":1">"Arthur J. Bond - Minority Engineering Program - Purdue University". www.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref>

After two years, however, he had to drop out due to a softball injury. After he recovered, he joined the army, "because Vietnam was looming on the horizon," he would later recount.<ref name=":0" />

Bond returned to Purdue in 1966, was graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (BSEE) in 1968, a master's degree in electrical engineering (MSEE) in 1969, and Ph.D. in 1974.<ref name=":2">"Dr. Arthur J. Bond". Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref> At the time Bond was the 42nd African-American to earn a PhD in engineering, and only the 12th to earn it in electrical engineering.<ref name=":3">"Arthur J. Bond Engineering Building" (PDF). Alabama A&M University Digital Collection. Retrieved February 2, 2023.</ref>

Student organizing

Bond was a student leader at Purdue during the time when the civil rights movement was in full swing.<ref name=":1" /> He would become a founding member of Purdue's Black Cultural Center and a founder of the National Society of Black Engineers.

At Purdue, Bond led students to demand that Purdue open up its engineering schools to more blacks and women. Frederick L. Hovde, Purdue's president at the time, was sympathetic to the cause. He appointed Bond to a steering committee, which organized the first national effort to increase minority participation in engineering.<ref name=":1" />

Bond remembers "When you would go to class, you would never see another Black student from the day you entered Purdue until you graduated. So we didn't know what other black student was studying engineering."<ref name=":1" /> Responding to students' need for a place where minority students could network and study, Purdue provided black students with a house, which Bond and his friends would "move in and decorate it and call it a Black Cultural Center," Bond later said.<ref name=":2" />

When two undergraduate black engineering students approached the dean of engineering to create a Black Society of Engineers, the dean agreed and assigned Bond, then a graduate student, to be the group's advisor.<ref name=":1" /><ref>"NSBE | History". www.nsbe.org. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref> In 1971, working from other engineering association's constitutions, they wrote the constitution for the original chapter of the NSBE.<ref name=":1" /> This group would grow into a national organization that is now the National Society of Black Engineers, which as of 2011 had over 30,000 members.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4">"Alumnus celebrated for contributions to engineering and diversity - Summer 2011 -". Purdue Engineering Impact. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref>

Career

Upon receiving his doctorate, Bond became an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Purdue for five years, and then an associate professor at Purdue Calumet.<ref>"In Memoriam: Arthur J. Bond, 1939-2012". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 2013-01-11. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref> He then went to work in industry for RCA, AlliedSignal, and Bendix.<ref name=":1" />

In 1989, Bond joined Tuskegee University as head of its department of electrical engineering,<ref name=":1" /> where he helped the Electrical Engineering Department regain full accreditation from the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).<ref name=":4" />

In 1992, Bond joined Alabama A&M as Dean of Engineering and Technology. At the time, the land-grant university was involved in the notorious Knight v. Alabama lawsuit, in which the plaintiff class, joined by the U.S. Justice Department argued that the State of Alabama's system of public university funding is a violation of equal rights.<ref name=":1" />

The case resulted in a 1995 decree that ordered Alabama to fund engineering at Alabama A&M. The ruling further ordered that whatever level of the engineering program that would be built up in nine years would constitute the required level of funding by the state.

As dean, Bond played a pivotal role in meeting the nine-year challenge. A&M's efforts bore fruit in 1997, when it was able to offer the first engineering courses. In 2000 mechanical and electrical engineering at A&M was accredited with the effective date made retroactive to 1998.<ref name=":1" />

Bond retired from Alabama A&M in 1996.<ref name=":1" />

Honors

• 1968: Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University.<ref name=":5">"Arthur J. Bond - Minority Engineering Program - Purdue University". www.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2024-02-08.</ref>
• 1969: Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University.<ref name=":5" />
• 1971: Co-Founder of The Society of Black Engineers (now NSBE).<ref>"NSBE | History". www.nsbe.org. Retrieved 2024-02-08.</ref>
• 1974: Assistant Professor, Purdue University.<ref name=":5" />
• 1979: Associate Professor, Purdue University, Calumet Campus.<ref name=":5" />
• 1984: Principal Engineer, Bendix Engine Control Systems.<ref name=":5" />
• 1989: Head of Electrical Engineering Department, Tuskegee University.<ref name=":5" />
• 1992-96: Dean of Engineering and Technology, Alabama A&M University.<ref name=":5" />
• 1994: Minorities in Engineering Award (formerly Vincent Bendix Award), American Society for Engineering Education.<ref>"Member Activities". American Society for Engineering Education. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved February 18, 2023.</ref>
• 1994: NACME Reginald Jones Distinguished Service Award for Minorities in Engineering for service above the call of duty<ref name=":2" />
• 2000: Golden Torch Award for Academic Visionary, National Society of Black Engineers<ref name=":2" />
• 2000: Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer, Purdue University<ref name=":2" />
• 2005: Distinguished Engineering Alumni, Purdue University.<ref>"Distinguished : Notable : Honors : Awards & Service". Engineering Alumni Association - Purdue University. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref>
• 2009: Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa), Purdue University.<ref>"Doctorates : Honors : Awards & Service". Engineering Alumni Association - Purdue University. Retrieved 2023-02-18.</ref>
• 2010: Alabama A&M University named new Engineering & Technology Building Arthur J. Bond Hall.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

External links

• Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumni web page about Bond