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Honored
UMass Lowell honored alum James Dandeneau by naming an academic building after him. Courtesy photo.
LOWELL, Mass. — UMass Lowell recently dedicated one of the university’s academic buildings in honor of alumnus James Dandeneau, ’80, of Dayville, in recognition of his longstanding support of his alma mater.
A 1980 graduate of UMass Lowell’s renowned plastics engineering program, he is the founder, president and CEO of medical-device company Putnam Plastics, which makes catheter assemblies among other products, and owner of Connecticut National Golf Course. Through his generosity, the building now known as Dandeneau Hall is undergoing renovations and will soon be a vibrant new home to robotics and computer labs for UMass Lowell students, along with space for engineering and computer science faculty.
In addition he was awarded with an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
Dandeneau and his family – wife Deb, daughter Lauren and son Ryan, a 2010 UMass Lowell graduate – have long championed an array of UMass Lowell initiatives, from funding student scholarships and research professorships to state-of-the-art equipment for the university’s engineering labs.
“Through his work in the medical-device field and his philanthropy, Jim Dandeneau has made a lasting difference in thousands and thousands of lives,” said UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney. “Dandeneau Hall will be a testament to his legacy, a center of activity where UMass Lowell will educate new generations of scientists, researchers and engineers to advance frontiers in these fields and more.”
The fully renovated Dandeneau Hall will become an integral part of UMass Lowell’s North Campus Innovation District, dedicated to scientific research and development and business education in support of the region’s economy.
“I’m very happy to support the renovation of this classic building. It is special to me because I took several courses here when I was a student and it is a part of the school’s history,” said Dandeneau said. “The state-of-art labs and research facilities being added will give UMass Lowell students hands-on experience with equipment they will likely encounter in the workplace.”
Working with a team of more than 280 Putnam Plastics employees, Dandeneau has fostered a stream of major technological advances and produced an outstanding variety of high-end devices that improve the quality of health care. In 1999, he became one of the first UMass Lowell alumni to create an endowed scholarship at the institution when he funded a major scholarship to benefit engineering students. He has also given his time to UMass Lowell, serving as a member of the university’s Plastics Engineering Advisory Board and steering committee for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Plastics Engineering Department. He received UMass Lowell’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 and is a 2001 inductee of the Francis Academy of Distinguished Engineers, the hall of fame for graduates of UMass Lowell’s Francis College of Engineering.