MILWAUKEE — More than 300 undergraduate and 14 graduate students in engineering majors, the Rader School of Business and the School of Nursing will receive their diplomas at Milwaukee School of Engineering’s (MSOE) Spring Commencement, Saturday, May 23 at the Kern Center.
MSOE Spring Commencement
Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m. – noon
Kern Center, 1245 N. Broadway, LL1&2
Speaker/Honorary Degree Recipient
Gary A. Stimac will deliver the keynote address and receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering during MSOE’s Commencement. Stimac graduated from MSOE with honors in 1973 and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Soon after graduation he moved to Houston to work as an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments.
Ten years later he left Texas Instruments to help establish a start-up technology company called Compaq Computer Corp. The small group of six men developed one of the first portable computers and the business grew very quickly. From 1985 to 1991 Stimac served as the vice president of Compaq’s System Engineering and Hardware Engineering organizations. From 1991 to 1996 Stimac served as the senior vice president and general manager of Compaq’s System Division, where he helped to generate $4 billion in revenue. In 1998 Stimac founded Compaq’s server business. Considered to be one of the pioneering architects of the modern computer server, Stimac is often credited with creating and legitimizing the first Intel/Windows-based server.
Stimac started a high-tech company in 1999 called RLX Technologies and helped to develop the first industry blade servers, which are self-contained, all-inclusive computer servers designed to minimize space. The company was sold to HP in 2005. Stimac is a member of the MSOE Board of Regents and received the Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1999 for his dedication to, and support of, MSOE.
Stimac and his wife Susan have been married for 37 years and have two grown children, Christopher and Timothy, who live in Texas. He has been a member of Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) for 37 years and is a member of the Steering Committee at Abiding Word in Houston. He divides his time between The Woodlands, Texas and Breckenridge, Colo., and enjoys fishing, hunting and golf.
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MSOE is an independent university with 2,600 students. MSOE offers 17 bachelor’s degrees and nine master’s degrees in the engineering, engineering technology, architectural engineering and building construction, computer, business and health-related fields. The university has a national academic reputation; longstanding ties to business and industry; dedicated professors with real-world experience; and extremely high placement rates and starting salaries. MSOE graduates are well-rounded, technologically experienced and highly productive professionals and leaders.
