Tenure decisions in the ME department raise questions, concerns by Dave Koelle Editor-in-Chief Recent denials o f tenure o f four popular professors in the M echani cal Engineering department have called for a re-examination o f crite ria for granting tenure, and an ex amination into the events which lead to the denial o f tenure for these pro fessors. The Board o f Trustees recently promoted or granted tenure to ten faculty members. While the grant ing o f promotions and tenure is a routine event, this year the ME de partment was unfortunate to have four professors denied tenure: pro fessors John Bausch, John Griffin, Douglas W alcerz, and Dave Zenger. Q u e stio n s w ere im m e d ia te ly raised by the campus community as
the need for the notion o f scholar way by the at-large com m ittee, the to why these professors were denied ship to go beyond quantity o f works department com m ittees, and the pro tenure. Students and alumni voiced published. He also described the vost, and report their findings” as their opinions that these professors scholarly endeavors which he and soon as possible. According to Prof. were som e o f the best they had had. the other ME professors denied ten W alcerz, he and other faculty memSeveral petitions calling for recon ure are undertaking. After sideration were circulated receiving five years o f en around the student body. co u r a g e m e n t for the Tenure-traek faculty are T en u re-tra ck fa c u lty a rc g ra n te d ten u re p r o jects u ndertaken by granted tenure based on b a se d on th ree c rite ria : H it’ll q u a lity teach these faculty members, they three criteria: High quality in }’, high q u a lity sc h o la r s h ip , a n d h ig h ly were told that they had not teaching, high quality schol va lu e d se rvic e (th e c r ite ria f o r ten u re m ay he done the right things, and arship, and highly valued f o u n d on p a g e 6 o f to d a y 's N e w sp e a k ). that these faculty must leave service (the criteria for ten WPI. He ended his speech ure may be found on page 6 by asking the faculty to pass o f today’s Newspeak). the motion he presented, for the ben bers agree that the most probably At the faculty meeting on March efit o f WPI. (Prof. W alcerz’s speech cause for the tenure decision was 21, Professor W alcerz made a mo may be read on page 4 o f today’s that their "scholarly achievem ent did tion to have the “Com m ittee on Ten Newspeak). not meet the Provost’s standard o f ure and Academic Freedom deter Prof. Walcerz received a standing quality.” The motion was seconded, mine whether the tenure criterion o f ovation at the end o f his speech, fol after which Prof. W alcerz presented scholarship is being interpreted and lowed by much support by the faculty a moving speech which addressed applied in a substantially uniform
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with respect to this issue. President Parrish, who was present at the meeting, added his support for an appeals process. At an ASME task force meeting on the evening of March 21, ASME presi dent John Albert strongly encouraged students to send letters to President Parrish regarding these tenure deci sions. In these letters, students should discuss personal experiences with the professors, what ramifications their absence will have on WPI, and any other important points o f effects the students can discuss. Address these letters to President Parrish, but send them to John Albert (box 1392) or Teri Brehio (box 3160). They will make copies o f the letters and assemble a collection o f letters which will be sent to President Parrish as well as other key officials. These letters should be submitted by April 3.
T h e S tu d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f W o r c e s te r P o ly te c h n ic I n s titu te
N e w spe a k Volume Twenty-four; Number Nine
Tuesday, March 26, 1996
WPI gears up for the next millennium: “Engineering Criteria 2000” progress by Jason Papadopoulos News Editor WPI has gone into full gear as far as implementing the ABET (Accredita tion Board for Engineering and Tech nology) proposed “Engineering Crite ria 2000” is concerned. WPI has been implementing the first stages o f an in novative accreditation program, which if successful in its testing stages will be fully implemented at the start o f the next century. As discussed in the ar ticle “Engineering Criteria 2QQQ” ac creditation at WPI (Newspeak, Tues day, February 6 ,1 9 9 6 ) the criteria will try to change the present system o f evaluating a students eligibility for a degree based on completed courses, and shift to a system where students are evaluated on the knowledge tliey have achieved. WPI has been doing this since the introduction o f “The Plan”, in 1971. The Humanities Sufficiency, IQP, and MQP already achieve much of what “Engineering Criteria 2000” is trying to accomplish, therefore WPI has an ad vantage over other universities.
Since the start o f this year WPI’s faculty has been busy planning how to implement the criteria established by ABET. So far a strategy for meeting the new criteria has been drafted and students are being selected to start the evaluations. The institute has also pre pared an outline o f points that will be co n sid ered w hen e v a lu a tin g the achievements o f students. These in clude the humanities sufficiency, IQP, MQP, distribution requirements, so cial sciences, etc. WPI has also pre pared a guideline that will be used to evaluate WPI graduates in their job functions. Alumni and employers will be asked to give their input, on the graduates' performances. The guide lines require current students , and employed graduates, to demonstrate eight abilities. These include the abil ity to apply knowledge o f mathemat ics, science, and engineering; to design and conduct experiments as well as analyze and interpret data; design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs; function on multi-disciplinary teams; identify, formulate, and
solve engineering problems; commu nicate effectively; use techniques, skills, and modem engineering tools neces sary for engineering practice, etc., all o f which arc listed in ABET’s “Engi neering Criteria 2000” (on the WorldW ide W eb at h ttp :// www.abet.ba.md.us/EAC/eac.html). “Engineering Criteria 2000” has been acknowledged by institutions, re search organizations, and the scientific community. A meeting with key soci ety personnel that was scheduled for February, 1996 has been postponed as the National Science Foundation has shown interest, and wants to sponsor the event. The conference, to be held in Baltimore, MD, from the 2nd to the 4th o f May, is expected to attract the attention o f key figures from the scien tific and educational community, and will be attended by faculty members o f other educational institutions. As a result it is hoped that WPI will gain more recognition for its achievements. ♦Available on the World-Wide Web at http://w w w .w pi.edu/~new speak/ 960206/Eng2000.html
WPI Track goes the distance
Three WPI students win highest award in mathematical contest by Jason Papadopoulos News Editor A group o f three students from WPI is one o f only four groups from around the world to have had their entry for the COM AP Mathematical Contest in modeling judged “Outstanding”. More than 300 international teams partici pated in this annual fO M A P spon sored competition, with judgments o f “Outstanding”, (best four team s), “Meritorious”, (best forty teams), and “Honorable Mention”, (best hundred teams). Aron C. Atkins, Henry A. Fink, and Jeffrey D. Spaleta, started the compe tition on Friday, February 2, at 12:00pm and worked until the submission time o f 5:00pm on Monday, February 5. Assistant Professors for Mathematical
Sciences, ArthurC. Heinricher, Bogdan M. Vemescu, acted as the students’ advisors. The problem that they had been assigned, “Imaging Underwater Objects with Ambient Noise” had no concrete answers and involved detailed research and proof work. This is the second these three mathematical sci ence students have taken part in this competition. In 1995 they were judged “Meritorious” for their solution to the problem, “Interceptions of a Single Helix and a Plane.” For further information lookup the following web pages: http://www.wpi.edu/-atkins/ Aron C. Atkins http://picard.res.wpi.edu/-haf/ Henry A. Fink http://www.wpi.edu/~spaletaj/ Jeffrey D. Spaleta
Parking restricted on Schussler by Dave Koelle Editor-in-Chief In a report to the community, WPI Chief of Police John Hanlon, Jr. an nounces that the City o f Worcester is restricting parking on Schussler Road to residents only. On Monday, March 18,thecityposted signs on Schussler Road declaring that parking is retricted to residents. Chief Hanlon has spoken with the Worcester Traffic Engineers Division about this decision. Several months ago, some of the resi dents living on Schussler Road peti tioned the Worcester City Council to restrict parking on Schussler Road to
residents only. The residents were suc cessful in getting this petition accepted. A two-week grace period, which be gan on March 18, will be granted to non residents parking on Schussler Road. After this grace period, the restriction will be enforced. In order for a person to qualify as a resident of Schussler Road, they must possess a Massachusetts driver’s license which shows Schussler Road as their address, and their vehicle must be regis tered at a Schussler Road address. As o f last week, there have been no similar attempts to restrict parking on local streets. Students arc reminded that a parking sticker must be obtained in order to park in the school’s parking lots.
CSDC Director speaks to ACPA
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO / EMILY BRUNKHOKST
Last Saturday, W P I’s track team s ran against Eastern Conneticut, W orcester State, and Clark University. Both team s were victorious, w ith an easy win by the M en’s team.
Tom Balistrieri, director o f coun seling and student development, was one o f 10 counseling professionals chosen to give presentations at the national convention o f the American C o lle g e P ersonnel A sso cia tio n (ACPA). Innovations in Counseling was the theme o f the convention, which was held in Baltimore from March 6 to
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N ew s .............................................................................................2, 4 Sports ................................................................................................ 3 Arts & Entertainment.................................................................. 5 Editorial .......................................................................................... 6 Counseling and Student Development Center....................... 6 letters to the E ditor ...................................................................... 6 Student Government Association ..............................................7
March 10. Balistrieri, who was se lected by Commission VII o f the asso ciation, was honored for Passage, an intervention he created that assists stu dents in their movement from youth to adulthood. The program, which he will implement at WPI in 1996-96, has been adopted by several colleges and universities.
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Commentary ....................................................................................7 Traditions ........................................................................................ 7 Club C o m er ....................................................................................S Greek C orner ................................................................................. V Classifieds ..................................................................................... II Com ics ............................................................................................11 Police iM g ..................................................................................... 12