Thayer School News
With the spring vacation in the background, Thayer School has entered the home stretch of another year, the goal of the first-year men the bachelor's degree at Commencement next month, and of the second-year men the Civil Engineer's degree, which will be conferred May 24 in conjunction with the graduation of the second-year Tuck School class.
The employment of the graduating class is still problematical. Some of the men are already placed, of course, but some are still undecided. Dean Garran receives frequent requests for men to fill engineering positions, and these are a great aid to the placement of the graduates. If you know of any positions open, a line to him will receive prompt attention, and he can usually suggest a likely candidate for the job.
Along this same line a letter was received last month from E. H. Elkins '15, who is with the Adams and Buxton Construction Company in Springfield, Mass., offering a timekeeper's position to a first-year man for summer employment with the prospect of a steady job subsequent to his graduation from Thayer School next year.
A similar letter from Harry W. Cole '16 offers a position as transit man on construction work to a first-year student during his vacation with the prospect of steady employment after graduation from Thayer School. This work is with the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation in South Charleston, W. Va. Such offers as these are extremely welcome, because they offer the students of the School valuable experience in the engineering field as well as employment which will prove a great help to the needy student who has to pay his own way through the Thayer School course.
In this connection it may interest alumni who are considering hiring students for summer work to know that the Thayer School summer vacation for second-year men coincides with that of the College, extending from the middle of June until the middle of September.
A letter was received recently from Maurice Binley '29 under a letterhead which reads as follows: "Brooks-Skinner Company, Inc. The largest builders of wood and steel garages, bungalows, factories, hangars, storehouses, schoolhouses, etc., in the U. S. A. Quincy, Massachusetts."
Phil Thompson '09 has forwarded the results of the Robert Fletcher Fund Campaign to date. These results seem to indicate that contributions are coming in "as well as could be expected" at the present writing.
F. H. Munkelt '09 forwarded a clipping from the New York Sun of March 27, listing the nominations for the eighth quinquennial balloting for the Hall of Fame. Included in the list of fifty-three names nominated this year were Lyman Spaulding, founder of the Dartmouth Medical School, and Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), soldier and educator, who founded the Thayer School in 1871.
Another tribute was paid to Robert Fletcher in the April Civil Engineering, where the names of the twenty-five members of the American Society of Civil Engineers of longest standing were listed. "Bobby" heads the list as the longest standing living member with sixty-one years of membership in the society. The following excerpt from this article is quoted because it's just the kind of tribute which we like to pay to Professor Fletcher and others like him: "All honor to thisdistinguished group, who by faithful service and personal integrity have broughtlasting fame to the Society. Their namesand records are an inspiration to theirfifteen thousand fellows."
Three outstanding contributions to engineering research and knowledge made by Thayer School graduates have been noted in recent engineering publications. One of these, Charles R. Main's ('08) discussion of the difficult Boston Parcel Post Building foundations, appeared in the January issue of the Journal of the Boston Society ofCivil Engineers.
Thorndike Saville '15 was the speaker at a meeting of the Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in New York, where, as former executive engineer of the National Resource Board, he presented the purposes and details of the Inventory and Plan for the Development of the Water Resources of the United States."
Listed under "Research Notes" in the March 28 issue of the Engineering News-Record are tests made by Morton O. Withey '05, to study the effects of vibration on the absorption, density, permeability, strength, and resistance to freezing and thawing of concrete.
It is with the deepest regret that we must report the death on March 30 of Mary Warnock Marsden, wife of Bob Marsden '09. All who knew Mrs. Marsden were charmed by her pleasant and ready friendliness, and her interest in Bob's friends and in Thayer School was unstinted. Her untimely passing will be felt as a personal loss by her friends in the college community and by those in the alumni group who were fortunate enough to have known her. We extend our great sympathy to Bob Marsden in his loss.
