On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the University of New Haven held Lockheed Martin Day as part of the university’s centennial celebration.

That morning, a helicopter landed in the Bixler Gerber quad.

“The University of New Haven is in our backyard,” said Michelle Andersen, engineering manager for entry-level rotation, “We are based in Stratford, Conn., for the Sikorsky piece of Lockheed Martin. We love meeting University of New Haven students and getting a chance to interact and show off our technologies.”

The company gave a $100,000 donation to the university to support a mentoring program for students.

An S-76D helicopter made the entrance for the company. More than 600 students attended events throughout the day.

Peter Hill, a senior student in the fire science program, said, “It opens a lot of doors to the fire science department and engineering department in regard to technology and resources to get more hands-on experiential learning.”

From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the Beckerman Rec Center was home to displays, demos, and opportunities for job interviews for students, which, the company announced later, resulted in a 12 job offers to students.

“I’m calling it the Lockheed Martin carnival,” said Andersen. “We have simulators, manufacturing demos, we also have some technical talks.”

Steve Bumbera, a computer science graduate student who was interviewed by the company, said, “Schools need to be building these relationships because it’s their job to get us jobs.”
Josh Emerich, junior, mechanical engineering major said, “I want to be able to expand my knowledge, and Lockheed Martin has that ability.”

The university’s centennial celebration will continue on March 3, with a speaker series hosting Nikki Giovanni, an American poet and activist.