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By University Communications
June 16, 2008

University of Arizona alumnus Loren M. Wood and his wife, Sally Ann Wood, have created the Dr. Elwin G. Wood Distinguished Professorship in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering through a leadership gift to the UA.

Loren Wood, a Tucson native, earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the UA in 1952 and a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1958. Sally Wood is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, where she received a bachelor of arts degree; she earned a master of social work degree from Boston University in 1960.

The professorship is named for Loren Wood’s father, a professor, who taught at the UA from 1924 until his retirement in 1966. He continued teaching part-time for five more years, until he was 75 years old.

The Woods established a $300,000 charitable remainder unitrust at the UA in 1998 to name a professorship for Elwin Wood. This year, they decided to donate their income interest to the College of Engineering so the professorship could be established during their lifetimes.

The Elwin G. Wood Distinguished Professorship will provide support for a full professor in aerospace and mechanical engineering. The professorship will be awarded on a three-year, renewable basis by the dean of the College of Engineering in consultation with the department aerospace and mechnical engineering department head.

The professorship combines Elwin Wood’s longtime association with the UA and Loren Wood’s connection to the UA’s College of Engineering as an undergraduate.

Loren Wood said the professorship is named for his father because "we all look back with gratitude toward what our families have done for us, and this is just something I wanted to do to honor my dad.”

Tom Peterson, dean of the College of Engineering, said, “This endowment from Loren and Sally Wood gives UA engineering a competitive edge in hiring and retaining outstanding faculty members. It is through generous gifts of this kind that our educational program continues to maintain the highest quality of teaching and research, and we are extremely grateful to the Woods for their generous gift.”

Elwin Grant Wood

When Elwin Wood came to UA in 1924, he taught agricultural economics, but the UA eventually combined that program with the business school’s economics department, and Wood spent most of his career in what was then called the College of Business and Public Administration.

Wood was a professor of marketing and eventually was named head of the college's marketing department.

Prior to joining the UA, Elwin Wood earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington State College and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He was a veteran of World War I and a native of Woods Bay, Mont., which was named for his father.

Elwin Wood taught advertising and served as a consultant for businesses in the Tucson community. He was district dean of the American Academy of Advertising, a member of the American Marketing Association and of the Advertising Association of the West.

In 1949, he organized the UA chapter of Alpha Delta Sigma, the national professional advertising fraternity, and, in 1950, he helped found the University Junior Advertising Club in the Advertising Association of the West.

In 1959, he was instrumental in founding the Gamma Alpha Chi chapter for women in advertising.

Elwin Wood was a member of Delta Sigma Phi social fraternity and also a member of the honorary business fraternities Alpha Kappa Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma.

In 1963, Elwin Wood was honored with the Golden Anniversary Medal from the national Alpha Delta Sigma Association for his many outstanding contributions to advertising education during the organization’s first 50 years.

In 1965, Wood was selected as the Tucson Advertising Club’s Silver Medal winner for his lifetime of achievement and service to the advertising field.

Loren Morris Wood

After graduating from the UA in 1952, Loren Wood went to work for General Electric, but soon enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a first lieutenant, serving as an airborne electronics maintenance officer. His four-year tour of duty was cut to just 11 months, when thousands of military personnel were discharged after federal budget cuts in 1953.

Following his military service, Wood went back to GE’s Aircraft Engine Division and worked there until 1969.

During that time, he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration under GE sponsorship and graduated with an MBA in 1958.

Wood’s MBA degree and experience in finance led him to change careers in 1969. At first he sought investment capital for a private venture, but then decided to work for Keystone Custodian Funds Inc. as an aerospace and electronics analyst.

In 1983 he left Keystone and founded Systematic Investors, Inc., an investment management company for corporate pension funds.

In 1990, Keystone Investment Management Co. (the former Keystone Custodian Funds) acquired Systematic Investors.

Wood retired from Keystone in 1995 as chief investment officer for the company’s institutional department.