SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA - California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo announced that Dunn-Edwards Corp. and company owner Ken Edwards are contributing $600,000 to the College of Science and Mathematics' Western Coatings Technology Center at the university.

In recognition of the donation, Cal Poly said it will give the name Dunn-Edwards Coatings Formulation Laboratory to the technology-center laboratory.

Ken Edwards has been involved with the coatings and polymers program in the university's Chemistry and Biochemistry Department for more than 20 years, and is the current chairman of the fund-raising campaign for the coatings-technology center.

The gift is Dunn-Edwards' second major contribution to the fund-raising campaign. The company in 2002 provided the lead gift of $500,000 to establish the Arthur C. Edwards Endowed Chair for Coatings Technology and Ecology. The professorship was named in honor of Ken Edwards' father, the co-founder of Dunn-Edwards.

Philip S. Bailey, dean of the Cal Poly College of Science and Mathematics, said "Dunn-Edwards Corporation and Ken Edwards in particular are continuing to provide leadership for this important research center." Bailey said the facility "is the only such center on the West Coast, and Cal Poly students, as well as the coatings and polymers industry, will benefit greatly from the modern research facilities."

In announcing the donations, Ken Edwards said Cal Poly's coatings and polymer programs represent an important resource for the coatings industry on the West Coast. "Cal Poly is the only university in the West where students can receive such intensive education in coatings and polymers," he said.