News

Committee continues its search for new provost

Former student remembered

Ed/Op

Staff Editorial
Use scheduling block for important events

Editors Corner
Actions overly aggressive

Editorial Notebook
Labor: key to human condition

Derby
Swanson calls for student engagement

Top Hat
Leusner establishes student rights as priority for term

Panhellenic Council
Funds successful

Presidents Corner
RPI unity laudable

Going Gray
Punishments inappropriately lenient for immoral campaigns

God puzzled at requests for a cure for cancer

Features

Easter celebrations include eggs, bunnies

Dave Barry
Frogs continue to spread, disperse

Sports

Baseball splits three doubleheaders

Perfect record best since 1966 team’s start

RPI falls overmatched by Golden Flyers

Women’s track & field team wins home meet

Street propels softball past Castleton State

Women return to tournaments after suspension

Rensselaer in Brief
Olympus award granted
Burt Swersey, a lecturer in the RPI Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, has been awarded the 2007 Olympus Lifetime of Educational Innovation Award for his dedication to original thinking and his commitment to students and their learning.

Prior to joining Rensselaer, Swersey was a successful inventor in the medical field and developed a number of important inventions, including an extremely accurate scale to weigh patients, together with bed and instrumentation, revolutionizing the treatment of water loss in patients with severe burns. Swersey has, for the past 18 years, taught the ideals and methods of innovation and has served as a role model to students.

“Looking at the world today, billions of people are struggling to survive, to maintain a living, or even have fresh drinking water, and the environment faces challenges that affect us all,” Swersey said. “These are real problems, and the solutions will require empathy, strong technical skills, and hard work. The challenge is recognizing these problems and having the courage to say that we’re going to fix them, even before we know how or even if it is possible. This is the mindset that we strive to instill in our students so that they can have a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Olympus recognizes individuals who have fostered and demonstrated creative thinking in higher education. “Burt Swersey’s passion for educating the next generation of innovators is paving the way for these gifted students to change the world,” said Acting Provost Robert Palazzo. “Burt’s award serves as a recognition of our efforts at Rensselaer to teach students how to identify problems and needs and seek creative solutions.”

Grad programs ranked
RPI has recently been ranked among the best in the nation in its graduate programs for engineering, applied mathematics, and the fine arts, according to the 2008 U.S. News & World Report guide to “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” expected to hit newsstands Tuesday.

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson said, “These rankings are another validation of our ongoing transformation to a world-class technological research university with global reach and global impact.”

The Graduate School of Engineering is ranked 36th in the nation, up from 37th last year. Aerospace, industrial, materials science, and nuclear engineering are also ranked among the top twenty in their respective categories, and 10 of Rensselaer’s 11 engineering programs are ranked among the top 30 in the country. Five engineering programs also saw their ranks improve from last year.

The graduate program in applied mathematics has maintained its ranking at 20th in the nation and the master in fine arts has maintained its rank at number eight.

CDC receives award
The Career Development Center on campus has been recognized by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, earning their Excellence Award in the category of College Educational Programming. Specifically, the award was given for the CDC’s development of the Sophomore Career Experience program.

NACE’s Excellence Award for College Educational Programming recognizes the best educational program related to career development or employment targeted to students or career center/college recruiting staff.

The Sophomore Career Experience consists of six programs or themes presented throughout the year. Topics include resume writing, career exploration, networking, interview techniques, experiential learning, and mentoring. In addition to the two-hour formal classroom program, a related activity or assignment is given to complement the process.

According to program literature, the Sophomore Career Experience helps to provide a formal transition for freshman from the First-Year Experience and teaches students critical behaviors to strengthen their career awareness and professional development. It also focuses on the development of essential and fundamental skills for sophomores related to career exploration and decision making, verbal and written communication, human relations, and job-search strategies.

Students interested in the program can contact the Career Development Center in DCC 209, by phone at x6234, or through its website at http://www.rpi.edu/dept/cdc/.