Harbeson family adds two more Blue Hens to family tree


Vol. 17, No. 34	June 11, 1998

Harbeson family adds two more Blue Hens to family tree

The Harbeson graduates and their parents (from left), are Raymond Mark Harbeson III,
Ray Harbeson Jr., Robert James Harbeson and Ellen P. Harbeson. Robert James Harbeson and Raymond Mark Harbeson III, BCE '96, of Dover were born to be engineers. They are the sons of Ellen P. Harbeson, HNS '72, a UD nursing alumna, and alumnus Raymond M. Harbeson Jr., BCE '69, Delaware's chief engineer and chief operating officer of the Delaware Department of Transportation, so, it seems natural that the Harbeson brothers both majored in civil engineering at UD.

The spring, Robbie received a bachelor of science and big brother Mark received his master's degree. At Convocation ceremonies for the College of Engineering on the same day, Ray Jr. also was honored as the Outstanding Alumni in Civil Engineering. Meanwhile, a third brother, Eric, a high school sophomore who recently wrote a term paper on the engineering of bridges, watched and pondered.

Both Mark and Robbie paid for their undergraduate education as recipients of the E.C. Davis Trust Fellowship. Robbie was president of the campus chapter of the American Society of Civil engineers and helped design and build UD's award-winning concrete canoe. He also participated in an undergraduate research program in his junior year.

He will enroll in the University of Maryland this fall to pursue a master's degree in architecture.

"Being able to be licensed as a structural engineer and have an architect's license is a wonderful combination," his proud dad said.

The first person in the immediate family to earn a master's degree, Mark is getting married this summer and will settle in Baltimore, where he will follow in his father's footsteps and work as a transportation engineer.

"We're very glad the boys chose Delaware.

There's been a great resurgence in the engineering school, There are some exciting new faculty members who are really turning things around," Ray Jr. said.

-Beth Thomas
Photo by Jack Buxbaum