Thayer School

The opening of the school year finds me with quite a stockpile of news of the school and the alumni, but also with a communication from the editor of this periodical hinting that news which can wait until November should wait until November in order to leave space for reports of The Convocation in October. Since most of our news isn't especially urgent, this column will be abbreviated.

The Convocation, which will be reported at length I am sure on other pages of this issue, was really an historic and distinguished event. As an impartial and uninvolved spectator, I was much impressed by the beauty and appropriateness of the arrangements, the dignity of the program and the qualifications and distinction of the participants. The event cannot have failed to impress all those who witnessed any part of it with the sincerity and quality of Dartmouth as an institution of higher education.

At the risk of overlooking other Thayer School alumni who attended the Convocation, and not including those of us on the faculty, I saw Gus Ayres '07, Dutch Schroedel '26, Henry Beck '39, Pete Halloran '20, ByronMcCoy '34, John Woodhouse DC'21, one of our new Thayer School Overseers and the youngest of all those honored by an Alumni Award.

Enrollment for the current year is at a new high for all time if we except the years of the postwar bulge with thirty second-year and 46 first-year students. The second-year class is pretty evenly distributed among civil, electrical, mechanical, and Tuck-Thayer; but mechanical cops the honors in the first-year class with almost one-half of the total enrollment, the remainder being fairly evenly distributed among the other three groups.

There are four new faces on the staff this fall, one of which is seldom seen at the School since it owner, Ervil W. Bentley, Technician, has been assigned to duty at the Dartmouth Knob Lake research station where he will be in charge of observations for the IGY and other research projects with activities at that far-north location.

Larry Scammon ME'57 has been added to the staff as Teaching Fellow. In addition to his teaching duties, Larry is studying electrical engineering subjects.

Charles C. Reynolds has been appointed Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Assistant Dean. He comes to Thayer School from MIT where he earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and his master's degree in metallurgy. He has been at that institution in various capacities as designer, researcher, and teacher for the past ten years. He has conducted especially noteworthy research on ductile cast iron.

Albert I. Heckbert has been appointed Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. He comes to us from Rensselaer where he has held a similar appointment for the past three years. A graduate of Tufts, he holds a master's degree from MIT and a doctor's degree from Rensselaer and has had six years' experience in industry.

Ray Mosher, who has held an appointment as Visiting Professor of Electrical Engineering for two years, has resigned to accept a professorship at the University of Michigan. He leaves us with all best wishes for a happy life in his new appointment.