On Friday, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs joined President José Luis Cruz Rivera, Maria and Steve Sanghi and other campus and community leaders and members to officially name the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering after one of NAU’s largest donors.
The $10 million gift, announced in October, will help elevate the Sanghi College of Engineering (SCE) and its students and faculty, offering unprecedented new research and partnership opportunities and an industry-focused education for the next generation of engineers and innovators in the state.
“This investment is more than a gift to the College of Engineering—it’s a resounding commitment to NAU’s mission, our students and Arizona’s future workforce,” President Cruz Rivera said at the event. “We are proud to partner with the Sanghis to produce career-aligned education.”
He also introduced Gov. Hobbs, who called this an “amazing turning point” for NAU.
“NAU prepares students to be leaders, problem-solvers and contributors to our economy, and the engineering college is a shining example of that effort,” said Hobbs, who is an NAU alumna. “Companies are paying attention to higher education, and NAU’s commitment to industry-aligned education means our students will be at the forefront of our booming economy.”
In his more than 30 years as president and CEO of Arizona-based Microchip Technology, Sanghi and his team grew the company 100-fold, from $60 million to $6 billion. His leadership was driven by the resilience that drove him to come to the United States for a master’s degree with only $150 to his name and the curiosity and desire to understand the mechanics of things he’s had since he was a child.
“I grew up in northern India, and while growing up I was very curious about how things worked,” he said. “I would take apart fully functional appliances just to see how they worked and why they worked. Many times, I wouldn’t be able to put them back together, which would draw a scolding from my parents.”
Sanghi told the crowd of students, faculty, staff and alumni as well as Flagstaff community members that he wouldn’t be where he was without education, and when he began looking for opportunities to make a transformational gift to an organization that focused on technological innovation, progress and collaboration, he looked to NAU.
Sanghi, who received an honorary doctorate from NAU in 2019 and joined the board of the NAU Foundation in 2024, has been collaborating with the university for almost a decade. He founded a robotics competition that quickly outgrew its space in Phoenix, and NAU offered the Skydome as a location for a second competition. Additionally, the Sanghis have funded a science teacher development program through NAU’s Center for STEM Teaching and Learning for several years.
Experience the celebration on Instagram.
The ceremony, which included speeches from NAU Foundation CEO and Vice President of Advancement Nick Lobejko and Sanghi College of Engineering Dean Charles Chadwell, displayed just a few of the innovations already happening at SCOE. The SAE Mini Baja team brought out the Baja Bug they’d built—Gov. Hobbs was offered a ride—and Ph.D. student Travis Colton Harrison presented Sanghi with a personalized axe that he’d designed and machined himself with the technology available at the SCE.
It was a celebration of the future of engineering and education, of which Sanghi said he was proud to be a part.
“This gift is not just a financial contribution; it is an investment in the future of engineering education and an investment in the bright minds that will drive innovation and progress in our society,” he said. “I dream of the day when someone from the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering could use artificial intelligence to splice the gene and find the cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s or MS. Maybe someone from the College of Engineering could be on the team that lands a man or woman on Mars and brings him or her safely home. And when someone does something so spectacular, then we will look back and say, ‘That man or woman was a Lumberjack.’”
Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu