Engineers Set to Kick off 100 Years of Football by Roger Burleson Sports Editor This Friday night at 7:30, WPI will kick o ff a hundred years o f football in a game against Division II opponent Springfield College, renew ing a series that ended in 1918. Since that opening game in 1888, the pro gram has gone through many changes. There have been numerous coaches, three undefeated and untied seasons, 1938, '54, and most re cently in '83 where it was the best season at WPI when we went 8-0-0. And in 1985 one o f the biggest changes was installed - omniturf. This game will also be the first game under the lights, and first game under the direction o f Raymond Gilbert, Director o f Athletics and Physical Education. But, the latest change to affect WPI oc
cured last year when Coach Bob Weiss re signed, and was replaced by C oach Jack Siedlecki. Siedlecki brings in a brand new system into WPI which includes a wide-open offense and a new defensive set. Siedlecki believes that the key for this year will be “ how quickly the players adapt to the new system ." This year, WPI has a very experienced offense, with nine players returning from last year's squad. "The offense has the most expe rience and will have to carry the team early, until the inexperienced defense comes into its ow n.” Leading the attack on offense will be the experienced backs of Mike Bucci and Joe Uglevich. both o f wich ran for over 500 yards last year. Bucci is also third in career rushing yardage, needing 55 yards for second and 410 yards for first place.
The quarterback will be manned by the experienced Greg W hitney. “ H e's having a good preseason and seems to throwing better each time h e's thow ing.” He will be backed up by an also experienced Randy Plasse. W hitney will be able to work with an experienced receiving corp. "O ur recievcrs have excellent speed for a Division III school and are very experienced." The offensive line will be anchored by guard and co-captain Sean Reagan. The rest o f the line is also solid, including three seniors and a junior. The only weakness would be that they are one deep at each position. The defense will be a young unit this year, with only three starters returning from last years squad. Siedlecki stated “that there are still some question marks at some positions, most of which will be answered after our scrim m age with M assachusetts M aritime.
But. he does feel that “ the personnel fit our defense." Siedlecki feels that his team has had a "good preseason, the offense has picked up the system, and we are a little ahead of where I wanted to be. W e do have a tough schedule this year and it will be a real challenge.” Preactivities for the gam e begin on Alumni Field at 7:00 p.m. Il will include a symbolic kick-off by G eorge Abdow, class of '53 and chairman and co-founder o f Abdows Big Boy Restaurants. He played football at WPI and is vice-president o f the Alumni Association. Captains of the 1938, '54. and '83 undefeated teams will also be present. President Strauss will conclude the activities with the coin toss. A special half-tim e show is also planned that will look back on one hundred years of football at W PI.
Check out the Activities Fair! The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Volume 16, Number 15
Wednesday September 7,1988
Zweip Discusses Campus Issues by Jeffrey S. Goldmeer Associate Editor Recently, Acting Provost Donald Zweip was interviewed by this reporter. During this interview, Zw eip discussed many topics; many o f these have been major issues at WPI in the past three years. These topics included engi neering education, graduate school vs. under graduate education, scholarship, and the future at WPI. In the past two years, undergraduates have becom e worried over the future of undergradu ate education at WPI. This fear has stemmed form m issconceptions and poor com m unica tion between students, the faculty, and the ad m inistration. A second reason for this fear is the apparent rise in the am ount of scholarship at W PI, and its direct associastion with re search. During this interview, Zweip stated that “ WPI is not trying to emulate the great research based institutions of the United States”. This is evident from the “school's allocation of re sources”. (Although not stated explicitly, this com m ent alludes that W P I’s undergraduate program receives a large portion o f the budget, and the school’s available resources.) How ever, the school does expect quality work from the graduates and the graduate program. Zw eip pointed out that the combination o f the graduate program, and the undergraduate program makes WPI the unique institution that it is. Zweip believes that “the graduate pro gram exists to enhance and improve the under graduate program .” The graduate program allows faculty m em bers to conduct research. This allows faculty members to stay at the forefront o f their field, and teach students new material that may not be available in textbooks. Undergraduates, in m any cases, take advantage of the graduate p ro g ram in M ajo r Q u a lify in g P ro jects (M Q Ps). Students m ay involve themselves w ith projects that revolve around a faculty m em ber’s research, which might not exist if there was no graduate program. Some students have noticed an increase in research in the last few years. Acting Provost Zweip pointed out that a decade ago WPI let the level o f scholar ship at WPI drop. As a result the am ount o f all form s of scholarship, not just research, dropped. Recently, W PI has come to realize that this was not good. T hus, the am ount o f scholarship at WPI has been steadily increasing; this has m eant an increase in research. However, re search is not the only form o f scholarship. One can engage in scholarship by advancing know l edge in a particular field, or by advancing one’s know ledge in a particular field. All these endeavors require that those in volved supply written docum entation o f their endeavors. Some schools require that faculty m em bers write these papers. This has become widely known as 'Publish or Perish’. Zweip stated that this principle "does not apply at W P I” . An issue that is related to research, is teaching. Since students believed that research
was the new focus at W PI, they believed that teaching became a secondary issue. This is not the case. Zweip stated that “ teaching is still paramount at W PI". It is important enough that faculty mem bers who cannot teach in a quality manner will not receive tenure. Another important factor throughout the past few years has been the state o f engineering education. During the past 20 years WPI has held a unique place in education. This has been due to W P I's experiments in education. The result o f these experiments has produced the
WPI o f 1988. Zweip believes that "WPI has done one o f the best jobs in the nation at educating its students." This has been done by combining technological and social issues. The single most important mechanism of this com bination is the Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP). Aside from this. Zweip secs a general atm osphere of social importance at WPI; that students try to understand the social aspects o f engineering. Q uestions, such as ‘why am I doing this', and 'how is, or how will this project benefit society’ are a part of a WPI
WPI Selects a New Provost by Jeffrey S. Goldmeer Associate Editor T he Random House C ollege Dictionary describes a provost as “ a high ranking adm in istrative officer o f a college o r a university who has charge o f the curriculum , and faculty appointm ents.” From 1985, until this past sum m er, R ichard G allagher was W P I’s Provost. However, this past spring, G allagher accepted the position o f President at Clarkson University. This left W PI w ithout a provost. The search for a new provost began with the creation of a Provost Selection Committee. The Provost Selection C om m ittee has eight m em bers; six faculty, one graduate student, and one undergraduate student. T he com m ittee’s m em bers are: Allen H. H offm an, Chairm an, Paul W . Davis, M athe matical Sciences, John A. O rr, Electrical E ngi neering, Albert Sacco, Jr., Chem ical Engineer ing, Lance E . Schacterle, H um anities, Thomas N owak. Graduate Student (M echanical E ngi neering), and Jeffrey S. G oldm eer, *89, M e
chanical Engineering. Three of the six faculty m em bers were elected to the comm ittee by the faculty as a whole; the other three faculty m em bers were appointed to the com m ittee by President Strauss. Both students on the com m ittee were selected by student government. The com m ittee’s charge is to recom m end at least two candidates to President Strauss; the president will m ake the final decision after the com m ittee m akes its recom m endation. The com m ittee’s first task was to nominate an acting provost. The selection o f Donald Zweip, Departm ent H ead of the M echanical Engineering D epartm ent as Acting Provost reflect the com pletion o f this task. Currently the com m ittee is actively seek ing candidates for the perm anent position o f Provost. A dvertisem ents have been placed in Engineering N ews, Science, and the Chronicle of H igher Education. L ater this academic year, the com m ittee will review all o f the resum es it receives. The com m ittee will m ake its recom m endation to President Strauss, and then h will select W PI’s next provost.
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO/OARY D E LG R E C O
F r e s h m a n m o v e d in A u g u s t 28 a n d h a d a 2 d a y o r i e n ta t io n b e f o r e c la s s e s b e g a n
education. In the future WPI will undergo many changes; a large number of them will be dic tated by changes in technology and society. These changes may also occur in individual departments in response to changes in indus try. However, one must rem em ber that no one person can predict these changes, and they should not be interpreted as an attempt to corrupt the undergraduate program. Acting Provost Zweip sees changes in WPI, but he also believes that the school's student population will rem ain approximately the sam e. He w ould also like to see the school, as well as the faculty and the students, receive wider recognition for their accom plishm ents. He hopes that W PI will take a larger leadership role in engineering education, and other related areas, such as m anagem ent, social science, and the humanities. As Acting Provost. Donald Zw eip sees a new optimism at WPI. He believes that the goal o f a WPI education is to give students the ability to continue learning throughout their lives. Donald Z w eip accepted the position of Acting Provost this past sum m er after Richard Gallagher, the previous provost, left WPI to become the president of Clarkson University. Previous to this, Zweip was the Departm ent Head o f M echanical Engineering; he will remain in this position until a permanent pro vost is identified.
Sanford Riley Dorm Hit by Lightning by Alex Kuhn _____________ Newspeak S ta ff _____________ On August 7, between 8:00 and 9:00 pm, Sanford Riley Hall was hit by an explosive bolt of lightning, causing several thousand dollars worth o f damage. This bolt caused damage to the fire alarm system, which required som e repairs, as well as to the roof and chim ney o f Riley. According to Robert Kozlow ski, Project Engineer for Plant Services, the bolt had enough force to split some limestone caps on the ro o f into 2 pieces, each o f which weighed between 600 and 700 pounds. It also damaged some o f the roof slating and penetrated the roof of the building. In addition to this damage, one chim ney on the roof was cut in half, spewing bricks over a 200 to 300 foot radius from the point o f impact. No injuries were reported. C rew s were on the scene soon after the occurrence to pick up the debris and m ake em ergency repairs on the roof, secure the roof to prevent leakage and repair the fire alarm. Contractors were hired to make permanent repairs on the ro o f and restore the chim ney to it’s original state. This was the fourth time that Riley has been struck by lightning. Plant Services is studying the feasability o f installing lightning arrestors on Riley, and also on some of the other build ings around cam pus.