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WPI President discusses future by Jeffrey Goldmeer Newspeak Staff In recent weeks, students and faculty alike have been anxious and curious about a number o f issues. President Jon Strauss, responding to these concerns agreed to an interview with this reporter. The interview covered numerous topics including parking, tuition, Alden Hall, Fuller Laboratory, and the future of under­ graduate education at WPI. F u lle r L a b o r a to r y Fuller Laboratory is the official name of the new informational sciences building. The building’s total cost is estimated to be $9.9 million, and construction may begin as early as this summer. The building will be located on the slope between Atwater Kent and Kaven Hall. The building is being named in honor of George F. Fuller, after a $2 million grant was made by the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation. The 55.000 square foot building will house

the Computer Science Department, the Instruc­ tional Media Center(IMC), the Campus Com ­ puter Center, and a 400 seat lecture hal I. When completed, the new lecture hall will be the largest on campus. Strauss explained that one reason for mov­ ing the computer center, the C.S. Dept., and the IMC into the same building is the ‘Serendipity Theory of Management’. He stated that some accomplishments, or new resources, appear without any planning; they are products of their environment. Strauss forwarded the new ComputerAided Engineering Center as an example. This center has come about with no previous plan­ ning; new faculty stirred an interest in the area. He hopes that by placing these three groups into the same building, a similar situation may oc­ cur. At this time, approximately $4.5 million out of the $9.9 million has been raised. The Alden Trust donated $1 million, and the school re­ cently received a $750,000 ‘challenge’ grant from the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan. The receipt o f this money is conditional

upon the school raising the rest of the funds necessary for the project. The school is plan­ ning on raising a total of $6 million; the remain­ ing funds will be secured through loans. President Strauss hopes to be able to ap­ proach the Board of Trustees in April to get their approval of the funding plan. To do so, he and

his staff must know the sources of all o f the required funds: gifts, grants, loans, and ‘bridge money’. A bridge fund is the money required to sustain a project until promised gift and grant monies are delivered. ( c o n tin u e d on p a g e 4)

WPI NKWS sk.r v i o :

A m o d el o f th e new F u lle r L a b o r a to rie s .

Paint your door and eat out! Ask your RA for

The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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Volume 16, Number 6

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Tuesday February 23, 1988

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11th consecutive year

Special student seminar accepts applications by Professor Michael Sokal For the 11th consecutive year, WPI students have an opportunity to participate, with other W orcester-area college undergraduates, in a unique educational experience at the American Antiquarian Society. The Society, located at 185 Salisbury Street — only one block from the WPI campus — is one of the country’s most important libraries for research in American history and culture. Each year it sponsors an American Studies Seminar for undergraduates at local colleges, and WPI students have tradi­ tionally done as well as, or better than, students at other institutions, including history and English majors from Clark and Holy Cross. WPI students enrolling in the seminar typically substitute their participation in it for one course of their Sufficiency Programs, or for their Suf­ ficiency Programs, or for their Sufficiency IS/ Ps, and those who have taken part in past sem i­ nars have usually described the experience with such phrases as “intellectually exciting,” enjoy­ able,” and “eye opening.” In particular, many have praised the opportunity to work closely with students at other Worcester-area colleges. Those considering taking part in the 1988 semi­ nar should discuss the possibility with a memeber o f the Humanities faculty as soon as possible. The topic of the American Antiquarian Society’s 1988 American Studies Seminar will be HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA’S PAST. The leader of the seminar will be Philip Cash, professor and chair o f the history department of Emmanuel College. He is the author of Medical Men at the Siege of Boston ( 1973) and senior editor of Medicine in Massachusetts, 1620-1820 (1980). He has also written numerous articles on various aspects of the history of American health care which have appeared in such journals as the New England Journal o f Medicine, the Journal of the Ameri­ can Medical Association, and the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Today, health care is both America's largest industry and its most pressing economic prob­ lem, while doctors in the United States enjoy a status, income, and power unequaled in any other country. From the colonial period to the 1870’s (the period of focus for this course), things were quite different. The primary agency for health care was the family, while regular

physicians were forced 10 compete with sectar­ ian doctors as well as quacks and such special­ ized providers o f health care as inoculators, bonesetters, bleeders, and midwives for the minority of paying patients. Although many doctors went to medical school, the prinicipal method of training physicians throughout most of this period was apprenticeship. Attempts to regulate medical practice were either weak or nonexistent. Hospitals were few and were designed primarily to serve the poor. Since the true nature of most illness was not yet known, those who treated or cared for the ill were forced to rely on logic and experience in their all- toooften losing battle against sickness and death. Yet, despite these great contrasts, the roots of our present health care system lie in this period, while the differences afford us a richer appre­ ciation of one of the most basic themes of the human experience: the race’s struggle for life and health. Drawing upon the rich resources of the AAS Library, this seminar will explore such topics as traditional medical theories and therapies, pub­ lic and private attitudes toward sickness and death, the role of women in traditonal health care, the training of physicians and others who cared for the ill, attempts to regulate the practice of medicine and to provide for public health, the image of doctors in literature and art, case studies of the health histories of individuals and families, as well as the early history in America o f such institutions as medical schools, socie­ ties, hospitals, dispensaries, and asylums. The Society’s extraordinary collections of printed, manuscript, and graphic arts materials will enable students to develop research projects (leading toward a major seminar paper) on a variety of subjects within the general seminar theme. This will be the eleventh American Studies Seminar offered by the Society in collaboration with the five undergraduate colleges and uni­ versities in Worcester. Students are selected by the Advisory Education Committee, composed o f representative of each o f the colleges and AAS. Students are selected by the Advisory Education Committee, composed of represen­ tatives of each o f the colleges and AAS. Stu­ dents completing their sufficiency programs in a wide variety o f subjects are encouraged to apply; the disciplines of history. Literature, religion, and American Studies are especially

relevant to the topic. In addition, biology and chemistry majors, as well as students enrolled in pre-medicine programs, will find the historical perspective offered by the seminar both illumi­ nating and useful. This seminar will meet on Tuesday after­ noon from 2 to 4 pm, beginning September 6, at the Goddard-Daniels House, 190 Salisbury Street (directly across from the Antiquarian Society’s library). Additional sessions will be scheduled on Thursday afternoons, also from 2 to 4 pm, during the first part of the semester. Since this is a research seminar dependent on materials in the Society’s library, students should expect during the term to spend a total of

at least a day a week at AAS, which is open from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, except holidays. Further information and application forms may be obtained from WPI’s campus represen­ tative, Professor Michael M. Sokal, Department of Humanities (SL 023, WPI ext. 5363) or from John B. Hench at AAS (185 Salisbury Street, Worcester 10609; telephone 752-5813 or 7555221). Prospective applicants who wish to ask students in previous seminars about their expe­ riences should contact their campus representa­ tives for the students’ names. All application materials (cover sheet, personal statement, tran­ script, two letters of recommendation) must be submitted to Professor Sokal no later than Fri­ day, March 29.

Elections postponed to D-Term byBillRiccio Student Government President Student Government elections have been postponed in order to fill a vacancy on the student government ballot. Nominations are being sought for the posi­ tion of student government President. Petitions will be available Tuesday, February 23 in the Dean of Students Office. The petitions are due Friday, February 26 in the Dean o f Students’

Office by 4:00 p.m. The same election procedures and officer qualifications shall be followed as published in the January 26 issue of N ew speak with the exception of the various dates which have been amended as described above. Elections will be held Thursday and Friday, March 3 1 and April 1. in Daniels Hall from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Due to the postponement, elected officers will assume office immediately upon election.

Snow cancellation make up From: Dean W. R. Grogan To: Faculty and Students The College closed at noon on Friday, February 12,1988, due to the snow emergency. Faculty are free to w ork with their classes in finding another free time to make up missed | classes or labs. The scheduling Office will assist faculty in finding rooms if requested. In the event that a suitable alternate is not feasible prior to the end of classes on Thursday, March I 3, missed activiites will be held on Friday morning, March 4. The four periods which would have been held Friday afternoon, February 12 will be scheduled in sequence on Friday morning, | March 4 as follows (same rooms): F rid a y , F e b r u a r y 12 1 2 :3 0 p m 1 :3 0 p m 2 :3 0 p m 3 :3 0 p m

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F rid a y , M a rc h 4

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