Pierrepont Avenue just past the Cross Campus Drive entrance to the Potsdam State campus at
3:05 a.m. on December 7.
These four men were in a group of AEPi fraternity members who were jogging in the
northbound lane of the highway into Potsdam from Hannawa Falls. According to the police, the
driver probably did not see the men in time to swerve or stop; the driver was issued a summons
for driving while intoxicated.
President Whitson Died.
William L. Whitson, tenth president of Clarkson, died on July 16,
1980, at George Washington Hospital, Washington, D.C., after suffering a heart attack earlier in
the month. He had been president of CTE Systems, Inc., Washington, D.C., a firm specializing
in management information systems. He also had been a consultant and systems analyst for
several government and private agencies.
He was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1912. He received his education at Union College,
Nebraska, and the University of Nebraska, and his PhD in nuclear physics at the University of
Iowa. He was perhaps best known as the founder and later president of the American
Astronautical Society and the Operations Research Society of America. Prior to coming to
Clarkson in 1963, he was vice president of the Martin-Marietta Corporation in Denver from
1959 to 1963, where he worked on the development of the Titan missile. He also assisted in the
planning and programming of all space agencies prior to the formation of NASA.
AISES.
Clarkson College was selected to be the home of the first chapter of the American
Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), an organization that recognizes the need for
participation of American Indians in today's technological world. By encouraging close
personal and professional relations among American Indian scientists, engineers, and
supporters, AISES promotes the recruitment and training of American Indians in science and
engineering.
The College currently had 15 American Indian students, including two women, with six
additional students entering in the fall. Of the four who graduated in May 1980, one received a
master's degree. Ed Misiaszek, associate dean of engineering, and prime mover behind the
establishment of this organization on the Clarkson campus, noted that only 30 American
Indians were graduated in engineering nationwide by 1979.
This organization came about through the efforts of AISES treasurer A.T. Anderson, a
member of the St. Regis Mohawk and Tuscarora Nations. Misiaszek was selected as its faculty
advisor.
