Striving to be just like Herman

Before starting the 1995-96 academic year, Keith Hoover presented a lecture to his Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology faculty colleagues on a topic that he knows quite well: Herman Moench.

The title of the 30-minute talk was "What Herman Taught Me." It was filled with anecdotes, insights on teaching techniques, and, yes, lots of humorous stories about the legendary Rose-Hulman professor and administrator.

Every word came from the heart.

"Herman inspired me and hundreds of other Rose-Hulman graduates to be better educators, engineers and people," said Hoover, a former Moench student who is now the senior professor in the electrical engineering and computer engineering department. "I have wanted to be like Herman, involve myself in my students' educational well-being and strive to learn new things."

That's why Hoover felt compelled to stop and admire Moench's portrait during a walk through campus in early March.

"I hadn't visited Herman in a long time," he said during a recent interview. "I was really 'communicating' with him that day, informing him about everything that was happening in my classes. I know he would have wanted to know. He cared so much about the students and Rose-Hulman."

Ironically, that was the same day Hoover was recommended to become the Herman A. Moench Distinguished Professor of Engineering, succeeding Robert Steinhauser, another Rose-Hulman institution who retired last year.

"I need to grow a beard and tell a few more stories in class (like Moench)," Hoover said, adding a lighthearted chuckle at the thought.

Hoover already shares Moench's love of teaching and Rose-Hulman, spending countless hours in the laboratories to help students understand an assignment. He also has advised hundreds of master's degree students; served on Operation Catapult's faculty for the past 19 years; and organizes recreational games for visiting international graduate students.

Just like Herman.

Academically, Hoover's interests have included electromagnetics, instrumentation, microcomputers and digital signal processing, a field that didn't exist when he earned his electrical engineering degree (with honors) from Rose-Hulman in 1971.

After earning a master's and doctorate (once again with honors) from the University of Illinois, Hoover taught for one year at North Carolina A&T State University before learning from Moench that Rose-Hulman had a faculty opening.

"Herman thought it was time that I came back 'home,'" Hoover reflected. "It was hard to turn him down."

Hoover easily recalls his first encounter with Moench in the hallway of Moench Hall (then named the Main Building) early in his freshman year.

"He stopped me because I was a new face on campus. He wanted to know where I was from and what interested me. I was amazed that he, the dean of faculty, would be interested in me," Hoover said.

Later that year, Hoover worked alongside Moench as they replaced tubes in an old Bendix G-15 computer that Moench kept as a hobby. Hoover also shared Moench's interest in the Rose-Hulman Radio Club. In fact, Hoover presented Moench with a walkie-talkie shortwave transmitter shortly before Moench's death in 1990.

"We could have talked on the telephone, but that wouldn't have been Herman," said Hoover, remembering how Moench remained in contact with Rose-Hulman alumni through an alumni net Morse code radio network.

"Some people may have thought that Herman was a grouch. Today, he may not have done well in teaching evaluations. But Rose-Hulman graduates have grown to appreciate Herman's teachings," the former ex-student stated. "Herman told you if you had egg on your face. He would pull you aside and tell it like it was. He was such a stickler for good communication skills. His pet peeves were not speaking and not writing clearly . . . Herman was a very humble man who never took himself too seriously. He was the first to try to learn new things. He was interested in everything and embraced change. He was one of the first people in Terre Haute to have a color television. He would have loved the Internet."

And, as years go by, Hoover finds himself becoming more like the old master.

"I enjoy the laboratory more than the theoretical work. I'm a hands-on person," he said. "People come to me for practical advice."