Both Mental and Muscular

Work hard, play hard.

This formula was the secret of the success of early July's second annual "Engineering Economy Training Conference" at the Thayer and Tuck Schools.

Prof. George A. Taylor, director, led his charges through a stiff, two-week regimen of lectures, golf, mountain climbing, and plain old studying. The hard-pressed but more knowledgeable executives' verdict: "Make it three weeks next year."

The academic side of the program is described by the participants as a must for financial executives in engineering enterprises and for engineers with executivefinancial responsibilities; it bridges the gap between finance and engineering. The executives are taught how to analyze and evaluate capital projects so that they will be sure to make appropriations for those processes and equipments that maximize profits and reject appropriations for those that do not.

"Executive rejuvenation" was the keynote of the play side of the program. The group set out to recapture some of that headlong enthusiasm and abandonment of student days - and succeeded, judging by the responses to Professor Taylor's course-end questionnaire.

The schedule for the two weeks was arranged this way: 8 to 12:30 every morning, class; afternoons, recreation; evenings, 7 to 10, more class. Red Rolfe started the health ball rolling the first Monday at an Inn luncheon, telling stories of out-of-shape ballplayers and their spring training troubles. That afternoon, the group experienced some of those difficulties on a trek up Mt. Cube, led by Fred Hart '58, president of the DOC. Longer trips, including those to Mt. Moosilauke and Franconia Notch, were also made by the group.

For all the fun and vigor of the recreation program, the conference's underlying objective was serious. Professor Taylor says, "Our purpose was to make each executive an expert in the evaluation of capital projects. By our work-play program we accomplished a lot more of our objective than we would have had we worked all the time. We got further into the subject this year and still had a whale of a time."

The course was originated and taught by Professor Taylor, professor of engineering and management at Thayer School, with Prof. John A. Griswold, professor of finance at Tuck, also participating in the teaching.

Last year, Professor Taylor directed a similar conference - but without the rigorous extracurricular program —at the Lake Placid Club. This year, he thought the Hanover environs ideal for the "executive rejuvenation" fillip. Next year, employing this year's successful formula, the course will be run again in Hanover for a new and larger group. And alumni of the course will be back for an advanced offering - three weeks, of course.