A gift from Lyndy (ND ’85) and Patrick Toole, Jr. (ND ’84) will establish the Lyndy and Patrick Toole, Jr., Endowment for Excellence, providing support for Diversity and Equity in the College of Engineering.
The new fund will energize efforts to recruit underrepresented and women scholar-engineers to the College’s faculty as well to the student body on the undergraduate and graduate levels. These efforts will complement the work of the College’s Director of the Minority Engineering Program and the Director of Women in Engineering.
Diversity and equity at all levels are top priorities at the College, said Patricia J. Culligan, who joined Notre Dame on August 1 as the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering.
“A diverse College of Engineering is a strong and innovative College of Engineering,” said Culligan, who came to Notre Dame following 17 years in leadership roles at Columbia University Engineering and 9 years at MIT School of Engineering.
“Engineers shape the world, and we need the full breadth of society sitting around the Notre Dame ‘engineering table’ to think through together how we are going to build a strong future for all members of our community.
“I’m extraordinarily grateful to Pat and Lyndy for recognizing the importance of this effort, and for so readily seeking to empower this vision at Notre Dame Engineering.
“On a personal level, this gift has a special meaning for me as it is the first to the College since I started as Dean, and it supports a priority that I am so passionate about.”
Pat Toole is a member of the Notre Dame Engineering Advisory Council. After retiring from IBM in 2017, he was appointed as an IBM Distinguished Engineer for his technical contributions and leadership over his 33-year career with the company.
An ordained permanent deacon in the Catholic Church, Pat Toole serves the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, as the Episcopal Delegate of Administration. Lyndy Toole is a fitness instructor and liturgical musician who has a music ministry for underprivileged preschool and elementary-age children.
The Tooles have five children: Kristi (ND ’09), Patrick (ND ’11), Robert (ND ’13), Brianne (ND ’14), and Sabrina.
— Notre Dame Engineering