Arthur J. Bond

Arthur J. Bond (1939 – December 30, 2012) was the dean of the School of Engineering and Technology at Alabama A&M University in Alabama, United States, and an activist in the cause of increasing black enrollment and retention in engineering and technology. He was a founding member of the National Society of Black Engineers and part of the team that fought for state funding of engineering at Alabama A&M University.

Education Bond came to Purdue University in 1957 to study electrical engineering on National Merit Scholarship and Purdue's Special Merit Scholarship. He describes always having been interested in electrical engineering, and ending up at Purdue by luck, recounting that "My high school principal's son was interested in engineering at Purdue... One day they were going for a visit to campus, and they asked me if I wanted to come."

After two years, however, he had to drop out due to a softball injury. After he recovered, he joined the army, "because Vietnam was looming on the horizon," he would later recount. At the time Bond was the 42nd African-American to earn a PhD in engineering, and only the 12th to earn it in electrical engineering.

Student organizing Bond was a student leader at Purdue during the time when the civil rights movement was in full swing. In 1971, working from other engineering association's constitutions, they wrote the constitution for the original chapter of the NSBE.

Career Upon receiving his doctorate, Bond became an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Purdue for five years, and then an associate professor at Purdue Calumet. He then went to work in industry for RCA, AlliedSignal, and Bendix. 1969: Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering, Purdue University. 1974: Assistant Professor, Purdue University. 1994: NACME Reginald Jones Distinguished Service Award for Minorities in Engineering for service above the call of duty 2009: Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa), Purdue University. 2010: Alabama A&M University named new Engineering & Technology Building Arthur J. Bond Hall.