Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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S ttyitieeiiaa Front row, left to right: Dr. H. H. Newell, Dr. F. J. Adams, Prof. T. H. Morgan, Prof. D. E. Howes. Back row: Prof. W. R. Grogan, Prof. R. L. Moruzzi, Mr. T. Kali- szewski, Mr. A. K. McCurdy, Prof. G. E. Stannard, Mr. R. G. Beschle, Prof. R. H. Krackhardt, Prof. W. B. Wadsworth. pose that Professor Wadsworth is still working on the development of protective ear-muffs? His spare time job was keeping unwanted and harmful noise from people’s ears. I never had any trouble being obliv¬ ious to his lectures. Maybe there’s a future for me in that line. Then again with my solid foundation in all electrical fields (inherent in all Tech E.E. grads) perhaps I could be a controls ‘ ' Let’s ge t Gobel Again.” man. Professors Bill “Stern” Grogan and Doug Howes in the summer months worked on such projects as automatic torpedo fir¬ ing devices and kidney bean shuckers. I don’t suppose, though, that either of them know I once shunted out the tilt circuit in a pin ball machine. It seems to me as if Professors Stannard and Krackhardt had a very interesting re¬ search project under survey back in ’56. It dealt with methods of reducing radio noise. I’m sure I could gather together other Tech men in straits similar to my own and aid these two educators considerably by raz¬ ing the rhythm ’n blues libraries of the local radio stations. Ah, but all these ideas are as futile as monitoring Engineering Economy classes in hopes that I might some day teach them or trying to install Hollywood tail-pipes on Professor Newell’s 1929 Franklin. The obvious question arises: was it worth the suffering at the hands of Mr. Beschle of re-calculating and re-plotting our lab results and going through the many punish¬ ments reserved only for inhabitants of Hades to arrive at this station in life which I now command? I think that I should have cut Professor Locke’s electrocution lecture and paid the supreme consequences. I can’t even get a job baby-sitting for Mr. Mc¬ Curdy’s clan (“Not broad-minded enough,” he says). Why, oh why, didn’t I take Option A? 1 21

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vv VN Thinking Required I CAN see it all now. The years will pass, and as I sit in my own little executive’s chair, a park bench, contentedly inhaling on a cigarette plucked from the obscure depths of the gutter, I’ll glance at the few remaining burning strands of tobacco and discover that this snipe has a filter tip, a Kent micronite filter. Like a flash the cold winter’s winds will soften with the touch of reminiscence which will engulf my bones to the marrow. Kent, that name reminds me only of the Atwater Kent Laboratories of my Alma Mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Memories will inundate my mind taking me back to my undergraduate days at W.P.I. Here in those labs which house the Electrical Engineering Department were conducted some of the most significant events of my life. Such things as Spark’s Parties, IHEE pledging, Senior class meetings, and Doc¬ tor Quinn’s sex lectures come most readily into focus because of their great signifi¬ cance. However, there are also the more serious matters which can’t be brushed aside: the induction motor burning out, the drain on the personal budget when Zeech dropped the ammeter, and the day when Professor Grogan blew the main circuit breaker while demonstrating the finer points of servo-mechanisms to a group of prospective Tech students. These events Stecfoical serve not only to show that everybody “goofs,” but that our lives are full of dis¬ heartening and mortifying experiences which are a part of Tech’s balanced train¬ ing program. Of course one can’t think of Kent Labs and the EE department without realizing that the core of the organization was not the buildings and the equipment available, but rather those that man them. When I think of the E.E. department’s staff, I’ll picture them most vividly as they always were on May Day wearing their green union suits as a mark of utter contempt for the Communist demonstrations through¬ out the world. Besides remembering this group as being conscious of world affairs, I’ll recall them as an efficient and progressive unit of which any educational institution might well be proud. As the leader of this staff I’ll remember one of Stanford’s best products, Professor T. H. Morgan, who never once was too busy to deny his valuable time to all of us who plagued him with our varied woes. Of course, to us, the Assistant Head of the Department, Miss Allen, will always be considered as a most gracious lady. As I patrol the gutter once more for a smoke and the streets for a hand-out, I’ll wish that she were present so that I could accept one of her exorbitant offers of a loan (in school days intended for proms and other events) and tap her supply of candy which was always on stock for “the boys.” But enough of this daydreaming about the past. The needs of the present day must be attended to. Let’s start job hunting again. Say, I wonder if any of my old in¬ structors might consider turning over one of their spare time jobs to me. Do you sup- “Ho-hum” { 20

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Left to right: Prof. T. H. Roddenbery, Prof. N. L. Oronato, Dr. J. F. Zimmerman, Dr. A. J. Schwieger. A S the happy-go-lucky engineers of Tech merrily move along their tour of the Institute to their ultimate goal, namely, graduation day, they are given a sigh of relief and a chance to increase their knowl¬ edge by being introduced to the Economics Department of W.P.I. This blessed event comes about at the commencement of the junior year. The Department is headed by Professor Schwieger; and then come his cohorts, Pro¬ fessors Rodenbury, Zimmerman, and Oran- Supply and Demand (Ed. Note: The final counts two-thirds) ato. These fine gentlemen provide many interesting moments and tests for the “Liberal Arts” students. This year the junior course has been re¬ vised. Its basis is the subject of Political Economy. This Department offers the stu¬ dents a great saving on paper, so the rumor goes. Eor just the price of one thin dollar (legal tender) approximately twenty pounds of paper are given to the s tudent containing information as valuable as an encyclopedia. Many interesting sidelights are brought out during these educational informal meet¬ ings. One prime example of a quiz question which proved to be a stumper was, “Who is John Podres?” Very few students gave the correct answer to this question which is, of course, a Mexican explorer and Zse- Zse fly exterminator born about the year 1267. Another question which proved to be most enlightening was, “Can one ex¬ change U.S. currency for gold if one is abroad?” As we end our gay ascent up the ladder of success to graduation, we look back, far back, upon the “Eco” Department and we give thanks for providing us with a most interesting subject which we both loved and passed.