University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 203 text:

ENGINEERING Co-op Enhances World of Engineering Graduating engineering students applying for post-graduate employment experienced an increasing demand for both top quality academic knowledge and practical work ex- perience related to their chosen profession. The Cooperative Engineering Program filled this demand with a well-structured program of education and training with industry. Since its inception in 1966, the Co-op pro- gram had proven beneficial for students, their employers and The University. The Co-op program enhanced the educa- tional and professional development of par- ticipating students. Selection and placement r Graduate student Mark Peterman works on improving the stress factors in structure such as bridges and overpasses. of the best qualified engineering student candidates was accomplished competitively. Students had to have at least 28 semester hours of credit and a 2.5 GPA to be allowed into the program. Other requirements in- cluded eight hours of calculus credit, eight hours of physics credit and a basic engineer- ing course in any discipline. Co-op students spent three semesters away from campus employed by industrial firms such as IBM and Exxon for fulltime, on-the-job training. Students secured an ear- ly start on their careers and began to develop important professional relationships with their future colleagues. While they acquired valuable work experience which would give them a definite edge over their peers when the search for post-graduate employment began, students earned attractive salaries sometimes up to $2,500 a month. In addition to expanding educational op- portunities for selected students, the Co-op program demonstrated to prospective employers the high caliber of engineering students at The University as well as the high quality of education those students received. Students became important ambassadors for The University and demonstrated a sense of cooperation with employers, interacting within the world of engineering. Employers found participation in the educational development of future engineers especially valuable because it offered them an early look at prospective members of their staff. They also appreciated the oppor- tunity to inform other University personnel about their companies ' technical endeavors. Early development of placement ties bet- ween top quality students and prospective employers made career assistance programs offered by the college more efficient. Ernesto Moralez, a Co-op student, said his hands-on computer programming ex- perience, gained as an employee at NASA, was invaluable. I learned a lot at UT, Moralez said, but the personal guidance given to me on my job taught me more than computer knowledge. I learned how to han- dle myself in a professional capacity, he ad- ded. The Co-op program aids in the transi- tion from student to employee, and I gained insight into the working world as a Co-op participant that I normally could not have gained, he said. by Kellye Crittenden Peterman stacks drying concrete cylinders to use in a project for the Texas Highway Department Engineering 197

Page 202 text:

ENGINEERING Gloyna Revitalizes Academic Programs During the next academic year, we will closely review our accomplishments and chart a course of action for the next decade. The faculty, with the help of our alumni, can attain our goal of excellence in all engineer- ing teaching and research programs, said Dean Earnest Gloyna about the revamping of the College of Engineering ' s programs. Our mission is to provide a superior educa- tional experience for men and women of the state of Texas, to help develop professional academic leadership for this region of the country and to establish a nationally recognized center for academic excellence in teaching, research and professional develop- ment, he added. Gloyna said a revitalization of the college meant developing facilities to accommodate the recent increase in enrollment and a reduction in the student-faculty ratio. New requirements, along with a rigorous drop policy, are only two of the many innovations designed to make the engineering program stronger. The stiffened drop policy would require that after the fourth day of classes, no drops would be allowed in any course. A graduate of Texas Tech University, The University of Texas at Austin and John Hopkins University, Gloyna has led the Col- lege of Engineering since 1970. Gloyna has shown exemplary leadership in the engineer- ing profession, not only as a teacher at UT Austin since 1947, but as a leader in private sector employment. He has held several con- sultantships, has written several books and papers pertaining to environmental engineer- ing and has held numerous non-teaching assignments with commissions and boards during his tenure as dean. Gloyna wanted to make use of his many years of experience in engineering and management. Becoming the backbone of the revitalization of the engineering pro- gram, he initiated a critical evaluation of the college ' s role in serving the engineering pro- fession. In the coming years, he would lead the college in its quest for education ex- cellence at UT. by Kellye Crittenden c tttK fUtt. - IkCoo - College of Engineering Dean Earnest Gloyna is revitalizing the engineering program. Civil engineering student Mark Peterman prepares a concrete mixture for stress tests. 196 Engineering

Page 204 text:

FINE ARTS Contributions Enhance Arts Program Comparing his college to others at The University, Dr. J. Robert Wills, dean of Fine Arts said, We are like most other colleges on campus because we have an academics mission that encompasses all the things they do. He added, however, that the College of Fine Arts was unique in the sense that so much of what was done there was public. Our students gain both their great suc- cesses and their great failures on a stage, in front of an audience, and our public laboratories really set us apart from what is happening elsewhere in The University. That, he said, was one of the things that made the arts unique. Beginning in October, the College of Fine Arts took over publication of a children ' s newspaper called Artsploration, which was published jointly by the Kennedy Center for the Arts and The University. Wills said the tabloid was published eight times a year, Oc- tober through May, for children in the fourth through sixth grades. In the summer of 1982, another program instituted by the College of the Fine Arts was the Dean ' s Associates. Annual contribu- tions from the Dean ' s Associates were used to support academic programs within the college. Wills said the contributions would enhance the character of day-to-day life in the college without having to rely solely on inadequately funded state appropriations, and would allow the college to respond to spur of the moment opportunities. Regarding his role as dean, Wills said that he was very interested in program develop- ment and that he saw his role as an ad- ministrator supporting the faculty and students, and whatever programs they see as significant. He added, I also see my role as an administrator as a creative one, rather than a mechanical one, in terms of helping people carry out ideas that seem to be good ideas, and seem to be worthwhile. Wills said that he was intrigued by the fact that no one person makes plans or goals in the decision-making process within the College of Fine Arts. Wills sounded optimistic about the future of his college. Academically, we are well- respected, and we recognize that there is an enormous opportunity for us to grow into even greater excellence, which is our honest goal, he said. by Fatima Argun Dean of the College of the Fine Arts,J. Robert Wills, investigates Artsfloration, a newspaper for children. Barbara Salisbury, editor, and Elise Roe, assistant, test experiments for publication in Ampliation. 198 Fine Arts