Math Chairman.
On October 14, math department chairman Louis Barrett was removed from
office by Dean Milton Kerker because of an impasse in budgeting and extensive disagreements
over long-range goals in the mathematics program. In reaction, after they were told by the dean
and the executive vice president that the dean's action was irrevocable, all 23 members of the
Math faculty signed a petition to President Graham deploring the dismissal. A. George Davis,
associate professor of mathematics, was appointed as acting chairman.
In response to the furor raised by this action, the Faculty Senate met in extraordinary
sessions with President Graham, then with the mathematics faculty on at least five separate
occasions, before issuing a statement that the dismissal of a chairman was an administrative
prerogative, but that any future dismissals should be discussed thoroughly and carefully with
the department faculty affected before being implemented by the administration.
Later, in his inaugural address, Dr. Graham pledged to work to create better
faculty/administration relations.
Twelve-year Growth.
In an "off-the-cuff" interview with radio station WTSC-FM in October,
President Graham noted the highlights of Clarkson's growth between 1954 and 1966.
The enrollment had grown from 1,088 to 2,191. On average in 1954, the Clarkson
undergraduate had entered with SAT scores of 432 verbal and 535 mathematics. The Class of
1970 entering in fall 1966, came in with an average 547 verbal and 641 mathematics.
In 1954, 17 percent of the faculty held the earned PhD degree, while by 1966 that figure
had risen to 50 percent. Faculty had published only two papers in 1954, but 104 in the 1965-66
academic year. The budget rose from $965,000 to $6 million, with a related increase in the
value of the physical plant from $2.3 million to $15.8 million.
Engineering Day.
Late in March, over 120 high school students visited campus to find out
what college life and engineering entailed. Mostly juniors and sophomores, these eager young
people listened to the director of residence living discuss how to get into college and how to
survive once there. Then they viewed a film on engineering as a profession before they sampled
college food at Lewis House. After lunch, they toured the exhibits of all four engineering
departments.
The chemical engineering honorary did its part by serving a fruit drink with they had
carbonated through a packing column; the civil engineering honorary weighed students by
measuring strain in metal as students stood on an "I" beam.
Satellite Signals.
Four electrical engineering students received signals from the Canadian
Ionospheric satellite named Alouette. Working under the guidance of Dr. Churchill, EE
chairman, Neil Nelson, Gary Smetana, David Humphrey, and Joseph Falletta successfully
received the Alouette signals from a telemetry system they had built and installed on the roof of
Clarkson Hall. These four had been working on individual research topics for their senior
theses, when it was discovered that enough information could be obtained from the satellite to
make the venture realistic and practical. The department awarded one of the four an NSF
Research Grant to enable sufficient funds to be allocated.
Launched in 1962 by a US vehicle, this satellite had been built by the Defense Research
Telecommunications Establishment (DRTE) at Ottawa primarily to measure worldwide
electron density distributions in the topside of the ionosphere.
