UMass Lowell’s Engineering Building has been formally named for distinguished alumnus and benefactor Barry Perry, who graduated in 1968 from what was then Lowell Technological Institute. Perry’s latest gift to the university totaled $1.25 million; it will be used to make improvements to the newly named Perry Hall, and to build the Perry Atrium inside the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center now under construction on the north campus. Funds also will be routed into the Barry W. Perry Plastics Engineering Endowment Fund, established seven years ago. Perry began his career at General Electric and retired in 2006 as the chairman and CEO of New Jersey-based Engelhard Corp., a chemical and metals company. Perry and his wife, Janice, who is also an alumna, are originally from Dartmouth and currently live in Newtown, Pa. - Karen Sackowitz