University of Utah graduate Mark Fuller, whose company WET Design has created some of the world’s most celebrated water fountains, including those at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and the fountains at The Gateway and City Creek malls in Salt Lake City, is one of four who will receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Utah.
Fuller will receive a Doctorate of Engineering during the annual student commencement ceremony held Thursday, May 7, 2015, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center at 6:30 p.m. Other honorees include actress Anne Cullimore Decker (“A Life Less Ordinary”), who will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts; Henry Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Doctor of Humane Letters; and Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, Doctor of Business.
Fuller’s company has designed more than 250 fountains, including The Dubai Fountain, The Waters of Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia, and the Olympic Games Cauldron in Salt Lake City. He was involved in developing a Discovery Channel reality competition called “The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius,” featuring weekly engineering challenges. The show was filmed at WET, and Fuller served as one of the judges.
Before co-launching WET in 1983, he worked for Disney, supervising the creation of more than 300 special effects and water projects. In a 2011 New York Times feature, Fuller discussed the company’s unique culture and how he uses improv classes to teach employees active listening skills. FastCompany named him one of the most creative people in business. He has also been featured in The New Yorker, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times and CBS News “Sunday Morning” program. Fuller earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in engineering and product design from Stanford University.
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