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essef history

In the spring of 1997, the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) was to be hosted by SFU; and the fund raising campaign, led by Jason Krause, yielded a surplus. Inspired by other engineering programs, Sean Donovan - the VP University Affairs at the time - decided to negotiate terms of reference for an engineering endowment fund at SFU, using the Waterloo Engineering Endowment Fund (WEEF) as a template, and using the CEC surplus as seed money. In finalizing the terms of reference, Donovan met several times with Engineering Faculty, undergraduates, alumni, and the SFU Development Office. In August of 1997, signed terms of reference were set in place and the Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund (ESSEF) was officially created.

In the beginning, the seed money consisted of approximately $9,000 from the CEC surplus and $28,000 transferred from the disbanded Student Enterprises Incorporated - a defunct student company created in the early years of the engineering program at SFU. To help the growth of the newly developed endowment fund, a team consisting of Joseph Yuen, Mark Zaacks, and Nakul Verma began a campaign to raise further funds. Since then, through the support of local companies, faculty, and alumni - including a $20,000 donation by Tim Collins and three donations by the Kaiser Foundation for Higher Education totaling $70,000 - the endowment fund has continued to grow.

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