ROTC Award Winner.
On November 27, 1979, Alison Bradner, a senior double majoring in
economics and humanities, became the first Clarkson ROTC cadet to be awarded the Legion of
Valor's Bronze Cross for Achievement. This award is sponsored by the Legion of Valor, a
congressionally-chartered veteran's organization open only to the recipients of the
congressional Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross, and is presented annually to a
few highly select, highly qualified ROTC cadets in recognition of outstanding college and
ROTC achievement.
From over 3,000 cadets in their senior year along the East Coast, only four were
selected to receive this award. Alison maintained a 3.87 GPA while being unusually active in
collegiate activities. Besides being president of Beta Gamma Sigma, business fraternity, and
member of Phi Kappa Phi, national honor society, she was a presidential scholar for five
semesters, was active in the Clarkson Theater Club,
Clarksonian
staff, Pre-Law Society,
Clarkson Singers, the Faculty Senate ROTC Committee, and the
ad hoc
Communications Skills
Committee. Within ROTC she was a member of the ROTC drill team, secretary of the Clarkson
chapter of Scabbard and Blade Honor Society, and editor of the ROTC Cadet newspaper. She
was a four-year ROTC scholarship winner and already had received awards from the Veterans
of Foreign Wars and the Department of the Army Superior Cadet Award.
Women Athletes Honored.
Two special awards were given at a women's sport banquet in
April. Deborah Lehman was honored as the Most Valuable Player in basketball and volleyball,
and the Outstanding Senior Athlete; Mary Beth Williams was honored as the Most Valuable
Player in hockey.
Goodenough House.
Renovated for undergraduate housing in the fall, the Goodenough house
at 71 Main Street, adjacent to Damon Hall, was purchased late in the summer to house 12-14
students. This helped relieve the overcrowding in dormitories, and it gave Clarkson ownership
of all the property along Main Street from Pierrepont to Cedar Street. Just as with the Anton
House and Seven Springs, this house remained on the village tax rolls, so the Village was not
deprived of tax revenues by its sale.
Woodchip Conference.
In October, Clarkson hosted its first conference on using wood chips
both for fuel and for energy production in an assessment of their commercial uses. Sponsored
by the New York State Energy Office, the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority (ERDA), the New York State Legislative Commission on Energy Systems, the Black
River-St. Lawrence Conservation and Development Project, and Clarkson.
This provided an opportunity for the participants to learn about an automatic chip feeder
furnace which had a 500,000-1,500,000 BTU range. This concept of converting regular
furnaces made the heating of schools and hospitals with wood chips more practical. Covering
the availability, harvesting, and transportation of wood chips; wood-fueled boilers; and the use
of wood chips as cattle food, this conference also discussed pelletizing, materials handling,
pollution control, drying systems, fuel preparation, and ended with a discussion of
governmental legislation, regulation, and policy. Clarkson later converted the furnace heating
Snell Hall and Congdon Hall to wood-chip fuel.
