Joe Dorris, BE'65, president of Futaba Corporation of America, presents a check supporting new building construction to proud recipients Chancellor E. Gordon Gee and Dean Kenneth F. Galloway.

When Joe Dorris, BE'65, was an elementary school student in Goodlettsville, Tenn., he applied to Vanderbilt.
       "I received a nice letter from the admissions office suggesting that I wait a few years and try again," Dorris said. "I can't remember a time when I wasn't enthusiastic about Vanderbilt."
       That enthusiasm took on new definition earlier this year when Dorris presented to Engineering School Dean Ken Galloway and Chancellor Gordon Gee a check for $100,000 from the company of which Dorris is president, Futaba Corporation of America. Dorris currently also serves as president and chief executive officer of Trans Tron Limited, Inc., a subsidiary of Futaba.
       The gift is in support of a new addition to and renovation of the main engineering building. Dorris joined Futaba in 1978, and because of his tireless efforts, a great partnership has been forged between the Vanderbilt School of Engineering and Futaba. Futaba is the world's leading producer of vacuum fluorescent displays used in automotive and consumer products. The corporation also is the leader in production of radio control systems for both hobby and industrial applications.
       Dorris highlighted the fact that engineering schools have the facilities and the expertise of faculty and students to provide vital research to all kinds of industry and technological companies. "Industry in general needs to support education at all levels, but it should look upon engineering schools as having needs in common with its own," Dorris said. "The situation is a synergistic one."
       However, there are personal reasons that Dorris is pleased to be the catalyst for the growing relationship between VUSE and Futaba. His role has kept his ties strong to Vanderbilt. "I know it sounds like a clichŽ, but like many other alumni, I want to give something back to the place that helped me get where I am," he said. When Vanderbilt and the School of Engineering receive recognition for excellence, "I feel I can rightfully share pride in that."
       Dorris's career as an engineering graduate has had many dimensions. A few years after finishing at Vanderbilt, he realized that to reach his professional goals and objectives-"I wanted to become a patent attorney or an executive of some sort"-he needed a business degree. So with a wife, a new baby and a full-time job with RCA, he began to pursue an M.B.A. degree at night at the University of Memphis. Dorris had done well at Vanderbilt, making the Dean's List on occasion. But he didn't have many of the basic undergraduate courses for entering a business program. "I had one economics course that counted," he said.
       Dorris, however, was still the same resilient person he had been as a child applying to Vanderbilt. "I had to make up these undergraduate courses somehow, so I just took them along with the M.B.A. courses. I was pretty busy."
       Today, he loves visiting Vanderbilt. "I'll never become tired of just walking across campus. My Vanderbilt years were good ones for me."