to be tied to any department or school; he or she was to report directly to the president of the
College.
Graduation and Gasoline.
Because of the acute nationwide gasoline shortage, Clarkson
rescheduled the eighty-first Commencement from 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 18, to Saturday
morning, May 19. This change permitted the families of graduates to return to their homes on
Saturday rather than on Sunday when most gasoline service stations would be closed.
"Daddy" Reynolds Died.
Professor Francis H. Reynolds, member of the Clarkson faculty for
over 40 years, died on February 27. Known affectionately as "Daddy" to thousands of alumni,
Reynolds, a native of Ellenburg, N.Y., graduated from Franklin Academy and served for two
years with the US Navy during World War I. After receiving his BS in chemical engineering
from Clarkson in 1923, and attending Columbia University graduate school, he returned to
teach at Clarkson in 1925. In 1965 when he retired, he was named professor emeritus, and was
awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree at that same Commencement ceremony.
Later in the year, he was presented with the Golden Knight Award, the highest award of the
College's Alumni Association. In 1959, he served as president of Omega Chi Epsilon, the
national chemical engineering society.
In Clarkson's early days, the curriculum of chemical engineering basically had been just
chemistry. Daddy introduced a new principles of chemical engineering course, and with the
help of his students built a laboratory in the basement of Old Main during the course's
scheduled laboratory periods. Reynolds especially remembered the help from Leslie Toof,
Harold Brunette, Tom Kerr, Jim Finley, Ted Lavine, and Bill Russell, all '27. They remembered
that Archie Sutherland was in charge of the machine shop, and that work in the laboratory could
be done only after Archie was convinced that he should let the students use the equipment. By
1932, the laboratory had grown so much that only six students could do experiments there at
one time. This lack of space forced the department to move the laboratory to the old forge shop
building.
His hobby of astronomy became well known around the area. He ground his first
telescope mirror himself-a 2-inch one-in 1928; his second, a 6-inch mirror; his last, a 10-inch
mirror, a Newtonian reflector, an 8-inch focal length, and an eyepiece which magnified 400
diameters. He gave many lectures on astronomy throughout New York State. Using his
telescope primarily for variable star work, he kept continuous observation of the variable stars
for the American Association of Variable Star Observers. He also was a member of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada, the Astronautical Society of the Pacific, and the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Also a devoted alumnus of the College, he always attended alumni functions. At one
particular reunion in 1949, when "Joe Bushey's" voice was heard on records, the voice sounded
suspiciously like "Daddy" Reynolds.
Executive-in-Residence.
Bringing four top-echelon business and government leaders to
campus for a three-day seminar, the School of Management sought to help bridge the gap
between the academic, business, and government worlds. This event provided an opportunity
for the executives, students, and faculty to explore their respective objectives, operations, and
problems in a relaxed setting, particularly as they related to the future.
