Kennesaw State’s College of Engineering were recently gifted a cast iron bathtub on Aug. 25 in the name of the late Edward Jordan, a former adjunct professor and KSU alumnus.
The gift originated from the popular bathtub races that took place on the Marietta campus, formerly known as Southern Polytechnic State University, that originated in the 1960s.
The races provided engineering students an outlet to apply their skills in the construction of these bathtubs, and brought audiences of over a thousand people to campus. Jordan enjoyed the bathtub races and won several of them when he was a mechanical engineering student, according to the KSU website.
Jordan passed away in December 2017 at age 65 after teaching at KSU for 32 years. His wife, Shirley Jordan, and close friend, Diana Whittle, donated the bathtub at a special event on Aug. 25 to commemorate Jordan and the bathtub races.
“We wished to make this donation to the University representing Edward and the bathtub racing legacy, which includes the students and staff involved throughout the years,” Shirley Jordan said. “This tub represents knowledge gained, ingenuity, as well as skills developed by the students and staff of Kennesaw State University, formerly known as Southern Polytechnic State University.”
The gift was presented to Renee Butler, interim dean of the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. About 65 people attended the ceremony, and the bathtub was permanently hung as a display in the lobby of the Engineering Technology Center.
“It is a real testament to our students’ ingenuity and creativity, and it really is a great piece of engineering art,” Butler said.
“It’s going to be really great for our students to learn the heritage of the bathtub races and see the bathtub that was made as an example to inspire them to be creative in their endeavors,” Butler continued.
