Mahoney to be honored at Commencement

Alumnus William E. Mahoney of Wilton, Conn., a retired business executive and current adjunct professor of Chemistry, will receive the campus’s Distinguished Achievement Award at Commencement on May 28.

The award honors individuals for exceptional achievements in a chosen profession, demonstrated leadership, and exemplary accomplishments that merit special recognition by the campus.

Mahoney has been a leader in advocating an industrial perspective within the Chemistry Department. He has brought prominent scientists and business leaders to campus, exposing undergraduate and graduate students to “the business of science.” He was also instrumental in setting up internships at his former company, Witco Corp., for undergraduates, giving them real world experiences in industry. Mahoney has recently been active in fund-raising for the major renovation of the state-of-the-art Richason spectroscopy laboratory, one of the campus’ showplace research facilities. He supports the annual William E. Mahoney Seminar in Chemistry in the chemistry department and serves on the advisory council in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, a panel he has also chaired.

Mahoney earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1955 and later completed the advanced marketing management program at the Harvard Business School.

A native of Springfield, Mahoney retired in 1997 as vice chairman and chief operating officer of Witco Corp., now called Chemturo Corp., a global manufacturer of specialty chemical and petroleum products. He served as chairman of Witco’s executive committee of the board of directors and was a member of the company’s office of the chairman. A member of the board of directors since 1989, he also sat on the board’s pension committee and audit committee, the latter as a non-voting member. In 1992, Mahoney was named one of the top 100 Irish-American executives in America. He has served on the board of directors of Garden Way Inc., Whistler Corp., Cybex International, Stamford Hospital, and the advisory board of New England Partners. In addition to consulting to industry, he has served on the board of directors of J.M. Huber Corp.

May 25, 2006.

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