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

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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

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EDUCATION ' Children in McCarthy ' s class associate her with the song The Eyes of Texas and the hook ' em horns sign. McCarthy considered student teaching a learning process for everyone involved. Her classroom supervising teacher had to learn how much leeway to give the beginner and to let the student teacher make mistakes, without jumping in to take control of the situation. As they (the children) got to know me ... they tried to see how far they could go. I expected them to be sweet little angels, McCar- thy said. Finding that her students were not exactly angels, McCarthy had to exercise her disciplining skills and show them who was boss. Briley said many of the activities led by the kindergarten student An elementary student in McCarthy ' s class paints a turkey for the Thanksgiving holidays teacher employed a great deal of motion, or experiencing. McCarthy ' s classroom con- tained many learning centers where the children could learn by playing. In a corner labeled Earth, children could experiment and discover concepts like weight and mass by weighing corn in a balance scale. The children who strung beads together were not just developing play habits but were also developing fine motor skills. Kindergartners also had many art activities. You can tell how children are developing through their artwork, McCarthy said, showing how a child who drew a turkey with a set of large tailfeathers on its stomach did not have as clear a concept of a turkey as a child who had placed them on the tail. Looking back on her semester in the kindergarten classroom, McCarthy believed that the most difficult part of student teaching was trying to satisfy her own teaching goals in addition to satisfying her super- vising teacher. The best part is interacting with the children and putting the theory you learned at UT into practice, she said. Still, I think they (the children) | definitely know their regular 1 teacher is the top person . . . but I think they liked me yes, she said with a smile. Kindergarten teaching may have sound ed elementary to those geared for high-tech careers, but people like McCarthy who were involved in the education of young children knew that it was far more than child ' s play. Dealing with young minds was a complete science. by Maureen Creamer Education 195

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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