Former faculty member sets Civil Engineering Department up for success

In 1960, Kam Movassaghi left his home country of Iran and came to Lafayette to study civil engineering at Southwest Louisiana Institute. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1963, and in 1980, he returned to the University of Southwestern Louisiana to take a position in the Civil Engineering Department after he earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees at LSU. Movassaghi also served as the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and President of Fenstermaker. In 2014, he and his wife Mazie established the Kam & Mazie Movassaghi Endowed Civil Engineering Support Fund to help the department achieve its goals and prepare students for a career in engineering.

Pictured left to right: Interim Dean of Engineering Dr. Ahmed Khattab, Dr. Mazie Movassaghi, Dr. Kam Movassaghi, University President Dr. E. Joseph Savoie

Now retired, Kam looks back on his experience as a student fondly.

“As a non-native, UL Lafayette provided me with a solid educational foundation,” he said. “Twenty years later, at a most difficult time in my life for having lived through a revolution, UL Lafayette welcomed me as a faculty member and provided me the opportunity to be what I am.”