Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 26 text:

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.

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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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Front row, left to right: Mr. R. E. Richcson, Prof. E. Higginbottom, Prof. T. H. Packard. Back row: Mr. W. E. Sellers, Prof. A. A. Kennedy I T has been observed in many engineer¬ ing circles that the subject the gradu¬ ating engineers are deficient in is — Eng¬ lish. Therefore, the English department was formed on the Hill, so that Tech stu¬ dents will be better equipped to express their thoughts—as unusual as they may be. After years of deliberation and consider¬ able study, the department decided that the best method of acquiring a knowledge of the language was through consistent writ¬ ing of themes. Along with the weekly themes was, of course, an outline which, oddly enough, was due before the theme. It seems that before this plan of action was put into effect, the outline was done after the theme which rendered the outline absolutely useless. Needless to say, the weekly works of art were the downfall of many a freshman who lacked a vivid imag¬ ination — or some other source of material. It was also very discouraging to complete a theme and then find that the professors read the same magazines. Along with the themes went reading of the works of such authors as Freud and Hayakawa. No freshman was ever as con¬ fused over a formula as he was after read¬ ing the abstractions of Hayakawa. The English Department is proud to have claim on one of Worcester’s finest poli¬ ticians, Professor Higgenbottom, who has been head of the department since 1944. The staff of the department also include the congenial Ted Packard, Arthur “The Elf’’ Kennedy, W. E. Sellers, and R. E. Richeson, Jr. Though seemingly misplaced in a tech¬ nical school, these experts of literary art deserve much credit for broadening the background of the Tech engineer and pre¬ paring him for his future in industry.