McCallan bids adieu
Javier Marquez

Take a stroll down one of the leafy paths that wind through campus, or step inside one of the buildings. Chances are that Mike McCallan had a hand in the design and construction of the structure in which you find yourself and the path you took to get there. In fact, a great part of the campus looks and feels the way it does because of him.

As Caltech’s associate director of engineering and construction management for more than two decades, McCallan has wielded tremendous influence steering the design and ensuring the structural integrity of dozens of lecture halls, labs, and office buildings.

He and his staff see to it that, from concept to ribbon cutting, construction projects are completed with the best materials, on schedule, and within their allotted budgets.

Now, after an impressive 45 years spent building a career distinguished by a remarkable climb from carpenter to the top management post in his department, he will retire at the end of June.

McCallan first stepped foot on campus as a carpenter in 1956, fresh from Northern Ireland, and you can still catch a light County Tyrone brogue in his words. The move was fueled by youthful dreams of America, the same ones shared by generations of immigrants before him.

“I was experimenting with America,” he said. “I thought I’d come for a short time and probably go home.” Instead, he found a small college in need of carpentry skills acquired during four years at technical college and the Belfast College of Technology.

Two weeks after arriving in the United States, he reported to work at Physical Plant. Soon enough, the 20-year-old Billy—his given name is actually William—was approached by a fellow carpenter.
“He said, ‘Since my name’s Bill and there’s another Bill here, and since you’re Irish, it’s going to have to be either Pat or Mike,” McCallan remembered with a smile. Knowing that his mother would object to the former, Billy gave way to Mike, a name that has become a part of his campus identity as much as the suits he wears every day.

The newly christened Mike worked in the shop for two years, constructing casework and cabinetry for labs, until the government came knocking. Although still a British citizen, he was drafted by the Army. Having no desire to enter the military, but wanting to remain in the United States, he reported for duty in December of 1958.

His luck held out. The Korean War was over and the fighting in Vietnam had not yet begun. McCallan was sent to Germany for two years of active duty. There he served in relative leisure, and the only conflicts he encountered were restricted to the soccer field. In 1960, he took a military leave to travel to Ireland and marry Caroline, the girl he had been dating before his American adventure. At the end of his service, the newlyweds moved to California.

Upon his return to Caltech, McCallan began his rise through the ranks, moving from lead man in the carpentry shop to assistant supervisor of shops to assistant manager of engineering and estimating. He became manager in 1979.

“My role is managing this office of 20 people, a mixture of architects, engineers, project managers, drafters, and clerical,” he said. “Our job is to assure that Caltech standards for construction are adhered to by outside architects, engineers, and contractors.”

During his tenure here, McCallan has been a witness to explosive growth. In his office, a framed 1948 aerial photograph shows that the campus proper sat on a thin strip of land that ran between Wilson and Hill. It was bounded by California Boulevard on the south, and San Pasqual on the north. A good two-thirds of the present-day campus stands on what was once a suburban developer’s dream tract.

“When I came here in 1956, the gross square footage of the campus was approximately 1.5 million square feet,” he said, referring to measurements taken from a structure’s outside wall to outside wall. “Today it’s 3.3 million square feet, above and below ground.”

McCallan has worked on many of these square feet, which amount to dozens of structures and the infrastructure to support them. His office also takes care of the modernization of labs, what he calls “the bread and butter” of his office.

Today, most of his energy is concentrated on the Broad Center going up on Wilson Avenue and the new fire station under construction on Del Mar. There are other projects in the planning stages, like the astrophysics building and the proposed Campus Center, which are in the fund-raising stage.

But these are ventures that McCallan doesn’t need to worry about. They will be inherited by his successor Christopher Wendrowski, who comes from L.A. County. Instead, McCallan will concentrate on the first big project on his retirement agenda. Come July, he and a few friends will explore the exotic golf courses of Ireland, visiting Portmarnock, Ballybunnion, and The Old Head of Kinsale.

“By then, I hope I’ll have adjusted to retirement,” he said.
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