Tribute to Frank Squires

TRIBUTE TO FRANK SQUIRES

On April 23, 1999, Austin Community College and the ACC Board of Trustees formally renamed the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology Building at the ACC Riverside Campus in honor of Frank Squires, former chief administrative officer of SEMATECH.

Squires was instrumental in establishing a two-year Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology at ACC. The program began registering students during the fall semester of 1995. In support of the program, Squires was involved with the formation of a council of semiconductor executives who provide strategic direction and resources for the technician program. Top executives from all of the local semiconductor companies-both manufactures and suppliers- sat on the council that was chaired AMD Group Vice President Gary Heersen. “He also helped us reach consensus on our approach to the local education continuum that starts in the eighth grade and continues through graduate school”.

The Frank Squires Workforce and Education Fund was established. Friends and business associates have contributed $50,000 to this fund which was used for faculty fellowships. “These fellowships are an innovative approach to enhancing the skills of the ACC faculty. The fund will allow the community college faculty to take a six-week sabbatical from their teaching responsibilities and actually work in a semiconductor facility,” said Dr. Richard Fonte, past president of ACC.

Also announced during the building dedication were a variety of new scholarships for students enrolled in the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology program. There scholarships are in addition to the Robert Galvin Endowment and individual scholarships funded by AMD, Eaton, and Tokyo Electron. SEMI will contribute the proceeds from their annual golf tournament, estimated at $10,000, for the Squires SEMI scholarships.

Renaming the teaching facility after Frank Squires is our way of expressing our respect and our recognition for this model program” said Mr. Earl Maxwell, past chair of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. The companies that have been involved in supporting the program locally include AMD, Cirrus Logic, Cypress Semiconductor, Motorola, Samsung, and SEMATECH. In addition, the supplier companies represented by SEMI and SEMI/SEMATECH as well as Aera, Applied Materials, Steag, and Tokyo Electron.