Good start

From college choice to donation decisions, engineering has always been at the heart of the University of Dayton experience for Michelle Novak Long ’83.

Her hometown friend was studying engineering at the University of Dayton, and she described that it was almost kismet when she ran into him at a fast food restaurant. They caught up over a conversation about where she was applying for college, and he gave her the nudge to check out the university he loved.

“He said, ‘You would just love Dayton. We work hard in classes, but we really like the social life afterwards, too,’” Long recalled of the conversation.

“You would just love Dayton. We work hard in classes, but we really like the social life afterwards, too.”

She was excited about the engineering program at the University because it offered environmental engineering technology, which was fairly new. The development of the program’s curriculum advanced alongside the field.

“It was the early ’80s, and at the time, the EPA was passing a whole bunch of new regulations,” Long said. “There was a lot of activity in the area of environmental regulation. We were learning things as EPA was developing them.”

In her lab classes, Long remembers she and her peers pulled instructions directly from the Federal Register to run tests because the evolving regulations hadn’t yet made it into textbooks.

“It felt like we were at the beginning of something,” Long said. That would prove to be true, she said, because after graduating from the University, Long went out to Southern California for a long career in environmental engineering technology with Solar Turbines, a Caterpillar company, in 2019.

One thing she said helped her find success in her career? The co-op experiences Long had while at UD. She worked with the Miami Conservancy District during her sophomore year and gained the hands-on experience that she said helped her realize she could do well in the field.

Opportunities like Long’s engineering co-op have become a focus of the University’s education, with experiential learning taking a front seat in academic departments across campus.

A 33-year member of UD’s Front Porch Society — made up of donors who give any amount three or more years in a row — Long has been giving back to the University almost as long as she’s been an alumna.

Then she learned about the School of Engineering’s Ethos Center. The center promotes just and sustainable technical tools to advance the common good, offering students learning, service and immersion opportunities home and abroad. It was just the type of experiential learning opportunity she was looking to support, and her donations grew. Long is among the supporters of the Ethos Center’s general operating fund.

“The [engineering] school gave me my good start, and I would like other students to have that same support and opportunity,” Long said. “I was just paying it back.”

Her support for the program also increased when she applied for the Caterpillar Foundation’s gift matching program for employees and retirees and was accepted in 2022.

As far as being in the UD alumni community, Long said everyone she runs into who shares her alma mater — even all the way out in California — is proud to be a Flyer.