Memories

The Sonic Burger opening in the Rogue Valley has caused me to have a vivid flashback. Actually, I was thinking about this the other day, when Professor Bob Rogers brought Earl Rader by my office.

Earl is 92 and a longtime friend of Bob’s. He has taught specialized welding on campus and donated equipment for use by our students. Earl made the first 1,500 quick-serve milkshake machines for A&W many years ago. That knowledge made me think of my first job as a high school student.

Sonic Burger has car hops, just like A&W did. However, at A&W we had to wear roller skates. I was pretty good at moving along, but didn’t really know how to stop.

My first day on the job, I was taking six large drinks out to a car. I was confident and things were going well, until I reached the car. The serving trays hooked onto the car window, and the man in the car rolled the window completely down just as I arrived. All six drinks landed in his lap.

The A&W manager came out and apologized. I thought I’d lose the job, but the man in the car was very kind. He told the manager that he shouldn’t have rolled the window down.

I thought I’d post this early, as the holiday weekend and meetings will make time scarce next week.

I was disappointed in the turnout for the Center for Health Professions Student Forum. We only saw about eight students. The photo shows Denise Honzel, director of the Center, talking to a mechanical engineering student.

Busy is the name of the game

It seems there is hardly a free minute lately. There are meetings stacked on top of meetings. I’ve had to cancel a quick run to Portland this week for meetings, as there were priorities in Klamath Falls. This week is punctuated with a FOAC meeting regarding the budget for next year, an open forum about the Center for Health Professions, a faculty-administrator meeting, a reception at an Oregon Tech Foundation board member’s home, and the annual retirement dinner.

I did carve out time last week to answer Danice Watters’ questions about the blog. She is working on a story for The Edge. It should be published soon. I believe this blog is being well received and is a good opportunity to facilitate timely communication with students.

Last week I mentioned conversations with a delegation from Honghe University of Yunnan Province, China. Things went well and we signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the exchange of students and faculties between both campuses. The photo seen above is of the delegation.

Saturday found the Mars Reach group launching a helium-filled balloon into the atmosphere. They hoped it would reach at least 70,000 feet before exploding, but it actually reached an altitude of 89,000 feet. Its payload held scientific experiments and tracking instruments. Mrs. Kerr’s fifth-grade class from Ferguson School participated in tracking the project’s return to earth. The photo shows Drew Loika (left) discussing the technical nuances with the elementary school children. Jimmy Marquit is pictured on the right in the green and white baseball cap. His mother is Tracey Lehman, OIT’s director of financial aid. Faculty members on hand for the launch were Tim Brower, Jamie Zipay and Claude Kansaku. Learn more about Mars Reach at marsreach.org.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m over my word count this week. Talk to you soon.

Responding to Comments

In a perfect world this would have been posted last week, but I know you all understand the demands of a busy schedule. First, I want to thank Mike Payne, Drew Loika and Cat Clarke for their positive responses to this blog. Your encouragement is very meaningful to me.

I was, however, concerned about Civilgrl’s comment. The word “bitter” really jumped out at me. We all have the opportunity to choose our attitudes and reactions to each situation we encounter. The reality is that the university mission is inclusive of all of our programs. My solemn promise to you is that engineering is not, and will not, be phased out.

A Development Council was formed with representation from all departments. The University Advancement office is motivated and engaged like never before. Fundraising is ongoing for all segments of campus, and I truly appreciate the dedication of our students who are out seeking financial and in-kind gifts to improve their learning experiences. The most visible fundraising is for the Center for Health Professions. No program is valued more than another in my opinion. The entire campus is better for the diversity in programs. As a microbiologist, I’ve done professional work with both engineers (wastewater treatment) and health/medical professionals.

Concerning Civilgrl’s comment about the lack of lavatories in the Civil Engineering wing of Cornett, I asked Facilities Services Director David Ebsen about this. There are restrooms at the front of the building and on the east side, near the anatomy and physiology laboratories.

David said, “There are no current plans to add additional restroom facilities. The fixture count for the building is in compliance with the occupancy load. Additional facilities will be required if and when the west side of the building is renovated.”

There is not a great deal of money available for deferred maintenance and renovation. Another reality is technology is expensive. The amount OIT receives from the state to offset costs is reduced every biennium. We do our best and hope that our students know and appreciate the value of the educational experience offered here.

Commencement Season is Here

The commencement schedule begins with graduation at Boeing on Thursday, June 8. The next day, we travel back to Portland for an exercise there. It is the 20th commencement for our Portland programs and is a real milestone. There are currently 628 students who have petitioned for graduation for the three upcoming ceremonies.

In Klamath Falls, graduation is set for Saturday, June 17. Martha Ackmann will be the keynote speaker. She is a member of the Gender Studies Department at Mount Holyoke College, and author of The Mercury 13. She is nationally known as an author and journalist. Her work is inspiring. She brings previously untold history to light. I am sure this will be a memorable commencement address. Her Web site is http://marthaackmann.com/.

We will see our first Geographic Information Science minor presented at the Klamath Falls commencement to Bill Morgan. He’s created a couple of wonderful animated maps – one of Crater Lake and the other of campus. We are hoping to use the animation of campus on OIT’s Web site. It’s very good to see our students doing such professional work. Bill also created an interactive map of Klamath Basin birding trails. You can access it at http://www.klamathbirdingtrails.com/Map.html.

Speaking of students, I want to make sure to congratulate Oregon Tech senior outfielder Derek Bodeen who was selected to the 2006 All-Region I Baseball team by a vote of the Region I coaches. The softball team also received honors.

Amanda Doherty was selected Region I Player of the Year. Jenni Bittle shared the Co-Pitcher of the Year with Melissa Oddie of Simon Fraser, British Columbia. Lisa Erwert and Kelsi Haylett were also named to the All-Region I team, and coach Greg Stewart was honored as Region I Coach of the Year.

I’m off to meet with a delegation visiting from China’s Honghe University, Yunnan Province. We are discussing opportunities for students from OIT and Honghe to have educational experiences abroad. I appreciate the efforts of Dr. Wangping Sun in facilitating this invigorating discussion.

Talk to you again next week.

Moving Along

I started this a while ago, but have equivocated about really going live with the blog. I know it is the best way to communicate with OIT students, but I’ve also had some input that said a blog wasn’t very presidential.

Well, we’re off and running now. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. There was a state board meeting last week, and everyone is preparing for budget discussions this week.

I’m already looking into the future. This term will be completed soon and commencement will be here in no time. Next week is the Oregon Tech Foundation board meeting and we will watch the launch of a high altitude balloon by the Mars Reach team, led by Associate Professor Tim Brower. It’s always exciting to introduce the community to the wonderful research and theory-building in which our students and faculty participate.

Last Friday, Assistant Professor Jim Long arranged for student projects to be displayed in the College Union. A variety of majors were represented and everyone walked away knowing OIT students are engaged in amazing work.

On the topic of great work, Professor Don Metzler let us know this morning that OIT’s Windows Embedded Student Challenge team is an international finalist. Only 30 teams qualified internationally, and OIT’s team is one of five from the United States competing in the 2006 World Finals at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington campus June 22-24. Jim Long sent an e-mail indicating that our team includes Koa Nguyen, Kiel Spencer, Josh Kimball and Skyler Aarabak. What wonderful news. Another U.S. qualifying team is from Georgia Tech.

Another team making the community sit up and take notice is the Hustlin’ Owl Softball women. They won the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championship and are hosting the regional tournament over the weekend. I hope to see a good crowd at the softball field. Also, several team members received CCC honors, including Player of the Year Amanda Doherty. She led the CCC in four offensive categories, including a .960 slugging percentage and a .517 on-base percentage, while raking up five of the six first-place votes.

Other players named to the All-Conference Team were Kelsi Anhorn, Jenni Bittle, Lisa Erwert and Kelsi Haylett. Honorable mention went to Megan Erner and Kindel Thomspson.

I’m looking forward to introducing the OIT community to the Oregon Center for Health Professions. There will be a student forum from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, in the College Union Mt. Mazama room. The informational session is open to all students, faculty, and staff, who would like to view the current drawings for the CHP, learn about the vision for the Center, and have an opportunity to ask questions and chat with me and CHP Director Denise Honzel in an informal setting. Allied health students are especially encouraged to attend this forum. I hope people will bring their lunches, and light refreshments will be served.

That’s it for now. Next week I’ll tell you more about our different commencement exercises.

Getting Started

I begin this adventure at the encouragement of OIT student Drew Loika. I have never considered blogging before, but I feel that I must get with it to be able to communicate with our students. Back to Drew, he's a motivated young man who is interested in what is going on around campus. After reading the President's Report, he came to my office to ask about the current initiative for the Oregon Center for Health Professions.

Apparently there is a perception that the health programs are receiving more attention than our engineering programs. That's what I love about communication. You do your best to share information, but you can never be sure what the other person is taking away from the encounter. It's challenging, and sometimes frustrating, but we all crave interaction with others.

The reality is that it takes all of our programs to make OIT the success it is today. Interestingly, I had an alumnus say to me last week that he was concerned when Larry Blake was president, because Dr. Blake always talked about making OIT the MIT of the west. The alumnus feared that the health programs would be phased out.

I'm personally excited about the work that can be done across degree programs. Soon I'll see a proposal for a new embedded systems degree program that combines the intricate nuances of engineering to create the sophisticated equipment necessary for our allied health programs.

Drew talked about the synergy necessary for corporate success during our meeting. He understands that it is the person with great technical knowledge, communication skills and the ability to reach the lay person who will be best able to contribute positively for an employer.

He had high praise for his faculty and the value of the education received at OIT. This always warms my heart. At the Alumni Awards Banquet each of the honored alums mentioned the importance of the quality faculty members with whom they interacted. (The honored alumni were: Irl Davis, Distinguished Alumnus, president and CEO of A/D Electronics Inc. and A/D Electronics Hong Kong Ltd.; Kevin Searles, Scientific Achievement, senior research engineer for ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company; Kevin Noble, Young Professional Achievement, product engineering manager for JELD-WEN Research & Development; and John Vandecoevering, Alumni Spirit, retired engineer who helped establish the Multiple Engineering Cooperative Program (MECOP) at OIT.)

I believe that our graduates leave campus with the best education possible, because of the care and support of outstanding OIT faculty.

It is my hope that I will update this blog at least weekly. I want our campus community, and the world, to know what's on my mind. This is a good opportunity to share my thoughts and to keep everyone updated on our progress and challenges.

Check in periodically for new posts. It feels like I should supply a "star date" in the "Captain's Log" just like in the Star Trek episodes.

Well, corny as it may sound, in the words of Spock, "Live long and prosper."