Leading the gifts was that of Mrs. Harold Cheel, daughter of the late North Country
Congressman Bertrand Snell, a longtime Clarkson Trustee. In honor of her gift, the student
center would be named the Cheel Campus Center. This 110,000-square foot student center
houses numerous facilities such as a dining area, snack bar, game room, post office, faculty
offices, music practice rooms, and student organization offices. (See p. 617)
It also houses a 3,500-seat multipurpose ice arena which serves as the home for the
Golden Knights hockey team. The Cheel arena also serves as a venue for additional University
functions such as concerts, convocations, and other large gatherings. Flooring, which can cover
the ice during hockey season, will permit other events to be held throughout the year.
Take-A-Seat Program.
A particularly innovative part of the campaign to raise money for the
Campus Center, the Take-A-Seat Program enabled donors to have a seat in the new hockey
arena permanently named in their honor for a commitment of $2,500, made payable over five
years.
Measles.
After a case of rubeola (measles) was confirmed in the dormitory late in April, classes
were cancelled for two days, and mandatory vaccination was held in the Alumni Gym for all
students and campus employees born on or after January 1, 1957. Those vaccinated were given
a Blue Card which allowed them to remain on campus. New York State Department of Health
supplied 4,000 doses of the vaccine, and the County provided public health nurses, swabs, and
alcohol.
As a result of that prompt action, no additional cases of the disease broke out, but
rumors were rampant. One, for example, which reported that half the members of a fraternity
were afflicted, soon proved untrue. Occurring at one of the busiest weekends on campus, this
medical crisis caused the cancellation of meetings with persons arriving from abroad and
around the nation, fraternity events, and numerous sports engagements, and a clam bake.
Cancelling the clambake left the University with 50 bushels of clams uneaten.
CAMP Building.
The Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), the largest building
on the campus at 177,400 square feet, houses offices for approximately 40 faculty members,
extensive laboratories and a pilot plant area, computational areas, public and commons space,
and a number of lecture halls.
It houses the faculty of chemical engineering, most of civil and environmental
engineering, and others whose work is in the area of advanced materials. With this Center, New
York State, the federal government, numerous major multinational corporations, and a number
of new high-technology small businesses cooperated to create a high-technology partnership
that was expected to advance the University, and the state's economic development.
Additionally, NASA awarded the Center the designation of Center for Commercialization of
Space with funding of one million dollars per year for five years.
AISES.
Clarkson became one of four universities selected nationwide by the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society (AISES) to establish a mentorship program. Sponsored by the
National Science Foundation, this program offers role models for Native American high school
students to attract them into science and engineering fields.
Eleven Clarkson student members of AISES served as mentors for 34 Native Americans
at Clarkson from school systems in the vicinity of the St. Regis Indian Reservation along the
