Richard Higgins ’79 wins prestigious award

Richard Higgins, a 1979 UMaine graduate and retired Boeing executive, has won Tau Beta Pi’s 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award.  That engineering honor society will formally recognize Higgins with the award at its October convention in Indianapolis.  According to the Tau Beta Pi news release, the award honors Higgins’ “lifetime achievements and commitment to engineering education.”   Higgins and his wife, Jean, a 1976 graduate, are generous UMaine benefactors.  Their endowed gift made possible the College of Engineering’s Richard and Jean Higgins Materials Testing Laboratory in Boardman Hall.