Preface
As the title indicates, this University portrait has been compiled from a myriad of facts,
events, statistics, anecdotes, and myths about the thousands of young men and women who
peopled Clarkson during its first hundred years. It reveals the flavor of the University, an
overall picture, as it were, of what Clarkson is. Just as a mosaic is made of thousands of bits
and pieces of different color, texture, shape and age, so Clarkson's history is shaped by the
thousands of people who have added their bits and pieces to make the 1995 Clarkson known the
world around.
Obviously, there are physical constraints imposed on any such undertaking. No one
work could include every person and every event connected with the school. Facts about the
early years are sketchy and partially obscured by time, and facts about the current activities are
too numerous.
However, the events, activities, actions, people, honors, and awards selected from my
40 years' association with the school lead me to believe that they are representative of and give
the reader a taste of the place. To that end, I have included funny, interesting, sad, witty, clever,
awesome, and inspiring material involving the good, the bad, the handsome, the ugly, the great
and the small, the famous and the not-so-famous who have been associated with Clarkson
University during the past century.
For the choice of the material, I alone am responsible. To any of you who may feel that
your important contributions to the University over the years have not been given the coverage
which you believe they deserve, I hereby extend a profound apology. Your contributions were
and are important; regrettably, space limitations alone force them to remain outside the scope of
this work.
Furthermore, no attempt was made to remain strictly chronological in arranging the
material included for each year. Instead, entries were placed almost at random to make varied
reading. Individual names cited in the text, however, usually have been included in the Index
for easy reference.
Material for this work came from Clarkson
Bulletins
;
Integrators
;
Alumnus
magazines;
Tech Registers
; news releases; student, alumni and employee memories and photographs; and
assorted other stories and documents submitted by interested contributors.
Special thanks are due to Mrs. Iva Ramsdell, Clarkson's archivist, who turned over to
me the contents of the archives, and let me prowl. Special thanks also go to Mrs. Susan Cutler
in University Communications whose eagle-eyes have scanned this manuscript countless times
to ensure all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed, to Angelita Dobson '96 who worked for
months to coax the scanner and computer into reproducing all the pictures as cleanly and
crisply as possible, and to Steve Hopkins and Rick Austin in University Communications for
their constant help and cooperation. This work would have been impossible to compile without
their incredibly generous, deeply appreciated, and most gracious assistance.
To the following additional people, a profound thanks also is publicly extended for their
special help:
Mr. Frederick "Ted" Ramsdell '33
Mrs. E. M. Jones, (Director Aldrich's youngest daughter)
