Wayne State University will honor a major benefactor at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, when the university holds ceremonies to rename its former North Residence Hall after Yousif B. Ghafari, chairman of Ghafari Associates, an architectural, engineering and design consultation firm headquartered in Dearborn.

A Wayne State alumnus and member of the WSU Foundation board and the capital campaign steering committee, Ghafari gave the university’s current fundraising campaign a major boost earlier this year with a pledge of $9 million. The gift will be used to support WSU’s planned new Engineering Development Center as well as providing endowments for student programs and scholarships, mathematics, engineering and medicine.

The Bloomfield Hills entrepreneur earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, a master’s degree in applied mathematics and computer applications and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Wayne State.

“Yousif Ghafari’s generous gift is a wonderful testimony to his commitment to higher education, and to Wayne State University in particular,” said WSU President Irvin D. Reid. “It also is an inspiration to others who realize that private gifts are vitally important to the university’s pursuit of excellence in education and research and to fulfilling its mission of providing educational opportunities for students.”

Ghafari received the university’s Corporate Leadership Award in 1994. In 1990, he received the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award and was named to the College of Engineering’s Hall of Fame. He also has received numerous awards from community organizations, including the American Cancer Society, International Heritage Hall of Fame and the Boy Scouts of America.

His firm handled architectural design aspects for the major refurbishment of the university’s historic Old Main building in the 1990s and for the conversion of the former St. Andrew’s Church on campus into a concert and lecture hall.

The six-story, 112,000 square foot North Residence Hall, the first of three new residential structures built on the Wayne State campus in the past three years, opened in August 2002. Located in the heart of campus adjacent to the David Adamany Undergraduate Library and near the popular Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center, it houses approximately 400 students. Special features include a dining room, a grill, private in-room baths and high-speed Internet access.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.