Faculty Profile:
Tom Reck

Faculty Reflection

Opportunities for Giving

Campus Collage

Helping To Make CSU, Chico Better

"In His Own Words" [Statements, fall '98] regarding the late Harlen Adams kindled fond memories, I'm sure, among many of us who had the pleasure of taking one of Dr. Adams' courses. His enthusiasm, friendliness, and love for teaching touched us all. In his speech class, he would occasionally delightfully entertain us by mimicking the way some of us walked or talked. His acting ability added to the many qualities of a truly rare person. He possessed the gift of being a great teacher; surely one of the noble callings in life. We will miss him.

Very truly yours,

John Harvey Carter ('40-'41),
Sacramento, CA

JOHN HARVEY CARTER
('40-'41),
Sacramento, CA

I am the parent of two past Chico State graduates, one in computer engineering and the other in business/computer science. I get the Chico Statements you send to them at my home. I like to read the magazine as it reminds me of my involvement with Chico as an industry advisor in the Electrical Engineering Department some years ago. Both of my children now hold technical management jobs with major companies and are quite successful. Their education is directly responsible for their success. In fact my son just hired a recent Chico graduate, the first the company has hired, and he is really excited about how well this new employee has fit in and is now contributing. In the past he has been hiring only experienced engineers because of experience requirements. So I know the tech departments are still there and cranking out good graduates.

It does disturb me that this magazine seems to me to be strictly oriented to liberal arts departments. I have never or maybe rarely seen an article about the fabulous technical departments and the highly successful graduates they graduate. Most are now prime movers in some way in the fast moving high tech industries. When I was involved in the hiring of new computer science and engineering graduates, Chico had a great name and we always came to Chico to hire....

One gets the impression from your publications that you would all be happy if the school should become a total liberal arts campus. My feelings as an industry advisor some years ago were that the technical departments were just the tail on the CSU, Chico dog. Industry thinks otherwise....I also receive the school magazine from San Jose State, deep in the heart of Silicon Valley, and it too has a heavy liberal arts bent.

My opinion is that there is a major disconnect between administrations such as yours and technical departments. The decrease in technical graduates across this nation is somewhat, I feel, a direct result of liberal school administrations having power and calling the shots. If such admin-istrations had to be somewhat accountable to business and industry needs things might be different....

Thanks for listening.

Stanley A. Nielsen,
Danville, CA

STANLEY A. NIELSON,
Danville, CA