Full Speed Ahead!

The themes of the December 2002 issue, “Full Speed Ahead” and “Organizational Transformation,” were written in such supercharged “let’s roll” prose that I had to decompress for a day after reading it. I still can’t quite understand what all the new initiatives in the “hot” fields like bio- and nanotechnology will lead to besides research dollars, but I don’t really have to. I hope that the younger scientists and engineers caught up in this mad chase are having fun, but I wonder.

Two comments about other items in the magazine: First, Denis Fred Simon (“Focus On”) says that “the resurgence of high-tech ... will be Darwinian,” meaning “it will be survival of the fittest.” This misinterpretation of Darwin by Herbert Spencer and the “social Darwinists” has been around since the late 19th century and has long been challenged by biologists, philosophers, and social scientists. It seems rather odd to see the new dean of Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management and Technology repeating it in the 21st century!

Second, Mark Jordan’s letter states unequivocally that Aniceto Garcia Menocal was “an officer in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps.” Monte Calvert’s The Mechanical Engineer in America, 1830-1910 indicates that the “Engineer Corps of the United States Navy” (note that “Civil” is missing) underwent great changes in the post-Civil War period. In February 1879 a bill was passed which “allowed the President of the United States to detail an officer from the Naval Engineer Corps as a professor in any school, ostensibly to promote ‘knowledge of steam engineering and iron ship building’…, but also ‘partly [as] a way to employ naval engineers.’” Perhaps Menocal was detailed to investigate routes for the proposed canal by the Navy, but this could have been either as a Navy officer or as a civilian. I suppose it depends who was paying his salary and wonder if Jordan has checked the Navy’s records on this.

Fred Lyman ’61
Syracuse, N.Y.

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Academics First

I was rather dismayed to read the quote from Coach Allard (“Hawk Talk”), namely, “Students come here to play baseball, but they also come here for academics.” There was a time when students came here for the academics, and the sports activities were secondary.

Joel Feinberg ’55
New Rochelle, N.Y.

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Investing in the Future

It’s obvious if you pick up recent editions of Rensselaer magazine that there is tremen-dous forward momentum happening here at Rensselaer. And that’s not being lost on prospective students or their families!

We hosted more than 3,200 individual students and their families during their college visits this past year and the enthusiasm for the Institute’s building plans, curricular and research enhancements, etc., is visible during their time with us. You really have to live with the steady drumbeat of pilings being hammered in and the huge crane that is visible all across campus to understand the difference in “feel” that this campus has from others. We are moving forward with ambitious plans to make The Rensselaer Plan real. Despite uncertainties in the economy, families see us investing in our—and their children’s—future.

Our recruitment cycle ended with the highest quality applicant pool ever seen. (And before one of our very quantitative alumni writes back, these are the applicant statistics, not the enrolling class, so there won’t be a comparison in their memory banks.) Looking back into the early ’70s statistics that we maintain, the quality of this applicant pool—average SAT of 1324 and 75 percent in the top 10 percent of their high school classes—exceeds all past applying student pools quite markedly. Women represent a larger percentage of the pool than in the past as do minority students. And, our Rensselaer Medalists number almost 1,000—991 to be exact—again, the greatest number of Medalists to apply ever. So, the good news permeates the campus—and, we hope, will lead to a robust first-year class.

It’s great to know that this publication is an information source for our alumni and friends, but you should also know that it is a very important recruiting tool for prospective students and their parents. Stories that showcase students—like race-car driver Erin Crocker ’03—help people see the lives they might lead if they come here. And, what’s even better—we deliver on that dream!

Teresa Duffy
Rensselaer Dean of Enrollment Management