Cyber and Engineering Academic Center Named

WEST POINT, NY – The U.S. Military Academy announced its newest academic facility will be named in honor of the West Point graduate who oversaw construction of the Panama Canal. 

The Academy’s future Cyber and Engineering Academic Center will be named Goethals Hall, in honor of Maj. Gen. George Washington Goethals, West Point Class of 1880. Goethals, a Brooklyn native, was the Army engineer who supervised the construction and opening of the Panama Canal. His Army career, spanning nearly four decades, included service during the Spanish-American War, engineering professor at West Point and acting Quartermaster General of the Army during World War I.  

Goethals’s contributions to the nation continued after retiring from the Army in 1919, serving as Chief Engineer of New Jersey and consulting engineer of the Port of New York Authority, known today as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  

The future Goethals Hall is a 136,000 square foot, modern academic facility that will enable and inspire collaboration across engineering disciplines and facilitate a powerful and broad impact within STEM scholarship and industry. Scheduled for completion in late 2025, it will serve as the future home for the academy’s Departments of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Systems Engineering. 

The future Goethals Hall is part of a broader, multi-year effort to modernize infrastructure and expand capabilities to prepare graduates to lead, fight, and win on the 21st century battlefield. 

About West Point 

The U. S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal service academy located 50 miles north of New York City. It was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering and continues today as the world’s premier leader-development institution, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country. Its mission is to build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation. For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.