The "New" Thayer School

THE electric atmosphere at the west end of Tuck Mall emanates from more than the engineering laboratories of the Thayer School. As the "pilot" protagonist of a philosophy of engineering education it believes best fits the needs and realities of the modern, technological world, the School has a charged air of its own - and some of the biggest sparks come from the man who heads the whole revitalized operation, Dean Myron Tribus.

The feature section of this issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE is devoted to the Thayer School, about which most alumni are probably as outdated in their thinking as they are about the changed character of today's engineer and the kind of education needed to train him.

At the heart of the Thayer School program is the emphasis on creative design, on the need for economic viability, and on relating engineering to the needs of society.

The Thayer faculty in effect is fighting to give engineering education back to the engineer. The "pilot plant" they have been building at Dartmouth is widely known and closely watched. With a million-dollar grant from the Sloan Foundation in 1962, plus other support from the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation, Thayer School has introduced three new graduate programs, increased the regular faculty to 22 and added eight adjunct professors, enlarged its enrollment, completely renovated its laboratory and shop facilities, and doubled its volume of sponsored research to the present level of $725,000.

The first stage of its pilot effort is now nearing completion, and Thayer School is busy with plans for further growth in students, faculty, program, and plant. Dean Tribus and his colleagues are convinced that the times demand a new breed of engineer and that Thayer School for its part must provide vigorous leadership in the national effort to produce him.