Question: how do you fit the names of 1,100 people and 100 businesses and foundations on a rock? Answer: use a very big rock. Okay, three slabs of rock. And make that granite, not the stuff we tread on in the Sierra, but the stuff that comes over on boats from places like Italy, Greece and India. Granite dark and shiny as obsidian, granite with a cosmos of pink and black swirls, granite embedded with shades of apricot and russet. On Friday, March 22, the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering will unveil its artful salute -- designed and executed by local sculptor and UC Davis alumna Donna Billick -- to the hundreds of individuals, foundations and corporations that contributed to the largest private fund-raising campaign in campus history. The Silver Anniversary Campaign for Excellence raised $54.5 million in cash and equipment for education and research at the engineering college. Media are invited to the private reception, which begins at 5:45 p.m. in the lobby of Engineering Unit II. The unveiling is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. "Each and every one of these donors plays a role in helping the College of Engineering become what it is today -- an excellent engineering school with a reputation that continues to grow," said engineering dean Mo Ghausi. He noted that private money has become increasingly important to universities as state and federal government support to higher education has diminished. Donors who will find their names etched in granite include those who made modest annual fund contributions as well as individuals such as Michael Child, a 1976 graduate of the electrical and computer engineering department, and his spouse, Renee, also a UC Davis alumna, who are endowing a professorship for faculty interested in entrepreneurship. Several alumni established named endowed scholarships: 1984 chemical engineering graduate Karl Gerdes and his veterinary medicine alumna spouse, Pamela Rohrich, are starting a scholarship for engineer athletes and students of veterinary medicine. Steven Montoya, another electrical engineer from the class of 1977, has founded a scholarship for underrepresented minorities. Donors also include faculty and staff members. Professor emeritus Warren Giedt and his wife, Leta, created a charitable trust that will some day become the Warren and Leta Giedt Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. Gerald Orlob, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, and his wife, Lillian, have made generous gifts for graduate student research in addition to endowing a scholarship for superior students studying environmental engineering. The bulk of campaign support came from the companies and foundations that enjoy technical relationships with college faculty and hire many of the college's graduates. TRW named an endowed graduate fellowship with a gift of $250,000. PG&E has funded a popular seminar series on energy-related topics as well as a graduate fellowship in the same field with a gift of $75,000. Rockwell International helped launch the Center for Computational Dynamics with gifts totaling more than $350,000. The first major corporate gift came from Chevron: $300,000 for facilities and minority programs. Gifts-in-kind -- that is, products such as computers, printers and software -- accounted for much of the campaign's success. Hewlett-Packard distinguished itself by granting the College over $3.5 million worth of equipment during the campaign. Most recently, it announced a $1 million grant for new equipment for student laboratories. Last year Mentor Graphics gave the College software valued at more than $17 million. Other donors of major equipment include NEC Electronics, Digital Equipment Corp., MRL Industries and Intel.