Noni Smyth was an institution within the Materials Engineering (MATE) department for 35 years. As the Administrative Support Coordinator, she was at the heart of the department’s operations, making sure that everything was running smoothly, students were well served, faculty had what they needed, and the department chair was supported.

“Noni was kind of the mom of the department,” explained MATE department chair Trevor Harding. “If you were having a bad day, she would be happy to listen to you or give you some advice. She is famous for taking in students that need housing. She's had students living with her for years.”

She left a lasting impression on students, staff, and faculty alike long after her retirement in 2010. So much so that in 2023 an anonymous donor made a generous $75,000 gift to help renovate the department’s student lounge and officially rename it the Noni Smyth Student Lounge.

The donor, an alum of the MATE department from the 1980s, remembered Smyth fondly and how everyone knew her and how supportive she was. He also recalled how she helped him with his resume and type out his senior thesis.

“I'm truly honored. This is a very humbling experience, and the entire department deserves recognition, not just me,” said Smyth. “Our faculty and staff went out of our way to provide a learning experience as well as bring together people from all walks of life, to make a better world. We weren't just training engineers; we tried to show them the big picture and how they could make an impact.”

Having gone through the program as a student years ago, the donor recognized why a student lounge can be such a critical and important place that can help students thrive. The 24-hour student lounge is one of the few places on campus where MATE undergrads can go to study and hang out with their fellow majors and build community, which includes game nights, and study and tutoring sessions. The department is relatively small and does not have a graduate program, so it’s usually the same cohort of students that go through the program together from the beginning to end, which helps add to the sense of family it has developed.

The student lounge itself is not a large space, perhaps only 12 feet by 30 feet, but it includes furniture, computers, a large television and a refrigerator and microwave. Despite the recent renovations, upkeep of the lounge will be necessary in the coming years, which is why the same donor is offering up to an additional $15,000 of matching funds for any other donations that go towards the upkeep of the lounge.

“I always enjoyed helping students, listening to them, talking with them and even advising them,” recalled Smyth. “My hope is the new lounge will provide students with a safe, inclusive, comfortable place to connect, study...and laugh! By funding to maintain the lounge, it will be available for generations to come.”

Harding is excited about the idea of this matching gift challenge and thinks that MATE alumni and donors are up for this fundraising task. He emphasized the impact that private donations, both large and small alike, have made on the department over the years.

“We have been able to raise significant amounts of money over the last several years, which has gone to renovating laboratory spaces, supporting students through Covid 19, and buying laptops that allow students to do computational modeling and simulation that they can't do on their own laptops,” he said. “It's had a huge impact and helped us to move into the 21st Century of teaching and technology.”

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