Inauguration Address

By President Gerald Jakubowski

April 27, 2007

I hope that each of you will some day experience what I am experiencing today, because this moment is a dream come true for me.

To be selected as the thirteenth president of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is a tremendous honor and a privilege.  I am humbled by the enormous responsibility that comes with serving as the president of this very, very special college.

I promise to fulfill the duties of this position with all my energies and abilities, with enthusiasm, compassion and hard work.  Together, we will be a great team that will build upon Rose-Hulman’s legacy of excellence. 

I encourage you to enjoy this period in Rose-Hulman’s history, not as a celebration about a single individual, but as a time to reflect on the college’s rich history,  to enjoy our current successes and as an inspiring, exciting period of opportunity to plan Rose-Hulman’s future.  Never before has Rose-Hulman’s role in higher education been more important to our community, state and nation than it is today, and will be tomorrow.

To Bill Fenoglio, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, thank you for bestowing upon me the rights and privileges of the presidency.  

I also want to thank, Board Chair Bob Bright and all the other trustees for their expressions of support and counsel.  Rose-Hulman is indebted to Bob for serving as Interim President last year and for his unselfish commitment and long-standing leadership to his alma mater.

I look forward to working with Bob and Bill and the other Board members in building Rose-Hulman into an even more prominent institution of higher education.

I want to acknowledge the student members of our concert band and string ensemble under the directorship of Mr. Gary Turner and our chorus under the directorship of Mr. David Gibbs.  

If we were a liberal arts institution or a comprehensive university, it would not be unusual to have students participate in the musical portion of the program.  However, we are an engineering school; we do not have a music department.  Our students do this because they have passions and interests far beyond engineering.  Thank you.  I am proud of all of you and I appreciate your participation in this inauguration ceremony.

I want to take a few minutes to acknowledge the members of the platform party.

First, I want to introduce to you a person who has had an incredible influence on Rose-Hulman – in making Rose-Hulman what it is today – in bringing national stature to Rose-Hulman - the former president of this institution, Dr. Sam Hulbert.

We are honored to have Sam Hulbert and his wife Joy with us today.  Sam, your devotion and leadership to this institution will forever be remembered for the incredible impact you had on making Rose-Hulman what it is today and the extraordinary influence you continue to have on Rose-Hulman and its people.  Sam and Joy, please stand and be recognized.  Thank you both for all you have done for Rose-Hulman.

I also want to quickly introduce and thank the other members of the platform party.

Mayor Kevin Burke – Thanks for your leadership and all that you are doing for Terre Haute.  I look forward to working with you to develop even stronger relationships between the community and Rose-Hulman.

George Peterson – I have known George for many years by working with him at ABET, but we also interacted when I was President of the American Society for Engineering Education.  Thanks for being here today as well as being one of our featured speakers at yesterday’s symposium.

Jim Melsa – Jim and I were engineering deans together.  We interacted on the Engineering Deans Council, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Triangle Fraternity Foundation.  Thanks for being here and best wishes to you as you begin your presidency of ASEE this June.

Kenyon Chan – I learned a lot from you when were deans together at Loyola Marymount University.  Best wishes as you begin your chancellorship at the University of Washington at Bothell.

Tom Curry – Tom, thanks for all that you are doing for our alumni.  I look forward to working with you to strengthen the alumni network that we have.

Riley Buttry – Riley, thanks for serving as President of the Student Government Association during my first year and for representing the students in my transition to Rose-Hulman.  Best wishes to you as you begin your career as an engineer working for Roche Diagnostics.

Art Western – Art serves as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty.  Art, thanks for the sage advice you have been giving me during my transition to Rose-Hulman.

Mark Minster – Mark, although you are a young, untenured faculty member, you have made a deep impression upon me.  Thank you for being part of the platform party and representing the faculty.

Bill Kanary – Bill has been my best friend since our freshman year of high school.  Bill’s wife, Pat is also in the audience.  Bill and Pat, thanks for the many years of fun and friendship.

There are many people who have journeyed here – near and far - to celebrate with us, and I would like to take a few moments to acknowledge them as well.

To all the members of the Board of Trustees who are here today and to all the members of the Chauncey Rose Society – they are easily recognizable – they are the ones wearing the snazzy red plaid jackets and the blue blazers – thank you for the tremendous amount of support you have given to Rose-Hulman.  Rose would not be where it is today without your generosity.

To the presidents and delegates from other institutions, welcome to Rose-Hulman.  College and university presidential inaugurations have a rich history full of color and pageantry.  Thank you for maintaining this tradition.  Your presence here today is a testament to our shared educational missions, and as you have supported us, we pledge our support to you.

To the alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Rose-Hulman, I offer a sincere thank you for attending today’s event.

To the students in the audience, thank you for attending as well.  We are all here because of you and for you.  You serve as the wind beneath our wings.  You keep us on our toes.  It is all about us providing you with the best educational experience possible. 

To my friends and former colleagues from Loyola Marymount University – Kenyon Chan, Steve Scheck, and Mike and Ann Mulvihill – thank you for being here.  I have many fond memories of my years at LMU.  Your presence here today reminds me of that very special place in Southern California.

To my friends and brothers from Triangle Fraternity - Randy Drew, a Rose alumnus, Scott Bova, Don Hatfield, and Brian Tenclinger - thank you.  Triangle played a major role in my personal development, so I am happy that you are here to share in this very special day with me. 

I am honored that my army buddy Bill Calderhead is here today representing the four horsemen - our Band of Brothers.

I am blessed to have a wonderful family who I want to introduce to you.   For many of you the first person I will ask to stand needs no introduction.   She has already become an active, enthusiastic member of the Rose-Hulman and Terre Haute communities.   I’m speaking of my lovely wife, Lynn.   I’m fortunate to have the support and wisdom of such a wonderful lady.  I would not be able to do this job without her commitment.  She’s my best buddy and we make a great team.  Thanks Lynn!  I love you dearly.

Welcome also to Lynn’s mom and dad, and to the other members of Lynn’s family who have joined us this afternoon. 

I’m not the only engineer or teacher in my family.  In the audience is my daughter Jamie, who is a high school mathematics teacher in Huntington Beach, California.  

It’s my pleasure to also introduce my son Jerry, who is an electrical engineer, and my daughter-in-law, Kristin who is a kindergarten teacher.  Jerry, Kristin and their daughter, Annabelle, live in the Philadelphia area.

I am very proud of my two kids and for all of their achievements.  I appreciate their understanding and support that they provided to me during my career.

I’m also proud to introduce my brother, Rollie, and his wife, Theresa, and my sister, Arlene, and her husband, Kip.  I’m the baby of the family and I haven’t always been the nicest little brother, so I appreciate them being here and I thank them for supporting and tolerating me over the years.

I would like to dedicate this installation ceremony to two people who are not in the audience today, but who are with me and my family in our hearts.   I’m referring to my father, Chester; and my mother, Pauline.  My parents were not highly educated people.  My mother completed the ninth grade.  My father was an orphan at an early age.  He had a very difficult childhood and, as a result, he only had a fifth grade education.

I learned through reading about this institution’s founder, Chauncey Rose, that he and my father had some things in common.   Chauncey, like my father, did not have much of a formal education.  Yet both had a great deal of respect and desire for knowledge.   Both valued the importance of an education.   And, Chauncey and Chester knew the importance of learning mechanical skills.   Teaching young men those skills in order to work on his railroad was the reason Chauncey created this college.

My father was not an engineer by training, but he was an engineer of sorts by experience.  And, that experience rubbed off on me.   My dad could fix or build just about anything.  When something needed repaired, he’d take me along as his helper.   Whether it was electrical, plumbing or mechanical, I learned often and I learned quickly from him.

My parents constantly encouraged me to become an engineer.  They knew that being an engineer would present me with opportunities they never had.  Fortunately, I was able to achieve their wishes through the education provided by my hometown university in Toledo.   Despite the lack of formal education, my parents were very smart people and they knew the importance of a college education.  So, for all the love, support and encouragement they gave me, I am eternally grateful.

The theme of our inauguration events is “Continuing our Legacy of Excellence.”   During my years as a faculty member and administrator at several institutions, I watched with admiration as Rose-Hulman’s reputation grew to a level of prominence. 

During my first ten months at Rose-Hulman I’ve become convinced we have a tremendous obligation to those who came before us and to those who will be influenced by us in the future.

We have an obligation to continue our legacy of excellence created by the past contributions made by many others during the history of this college including:

Chauncey Rose – the Founder of Rose Polytechnic Institute;

The Hulman family - who donated the land upon which the campus is located today, and who later endowed the college through their gift of the Hulman Foundation;

Carl Mees - who served as President for twenty-four years;

Herman Moench – who taught at Rose for more than 50 years; and, of course,

Sam Hulbert – the longest serving president of the institute, who served for twenty-eight years.

We also have an obligation to recruit and retain the best and brightest faculty – faculty who are passionate about teaching and who are dedicated to working with students.  In addition, we need to provide our faculty with the best facilities and resources that will enable them to achieve their goals of educational excellence.

Because of our visionary faculty and staff, Rose-Hulman has earned national recognition for being one of the first colleges to require students to purchase a laptop computer and, more importantly, the faculty members here were among the first educators to formulate a plan to effectively integrate the use of the laptop computer into undergraduate engineering, mathematics and science education. 

Rose-Hulman is also nationally known for its effective use of assessment tools to evaluate educational outcomes.  Our faculty members are innovators in the teaching of wireless technology and in developing innovative projects to stimulate student creativity.

For more than a century, our alumni have contributed to the college’s legacy of excellence and to the scientific and technical needs of our nation.    Those contributions began decades ago when our graduates played key roles to develop national telephone systems, electronics for color television, and provided technical leadership that was vital to the growth of some of our nation’s most well known companies. 

Our alumni developed new generations of jet engines, helped create the Apollo space program that put man on the moon and were leaders in the development of computers and computing systems.  Graduates like Fred Garry and Ernest Davidson have been honored at the White House when they received the National Medal of Technology and the National Medal of Science awards, respectively.

We have several young graduates who are continuing our legacy of excellence.  For example alumna Nicolee Nietch, a 2001 graduate, is a lead engineer for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  This project is a five year mission to determine whether water ever existed on Mars and – if it did, for how long – and to determine whether water still exists on the planet.  Nicolee is responsible for designing, developing and testing the on-board programs that control the spacecraft.  I am happy to say that Nicolee received the 2006 Rose-Hulman Distinguished Young Alumnus Award.

Today’s Rose-Hulman students are amazing to me.  I’ve been a faculty member at public and private institutions, and I have never experienced the variety of talent exhibited by our students from atheletics to acting to music.

For example, students like Megan Greenwell and Eric Volz, whose singing and acting abilities are exceptional and would cause anyone to re-think their thoughts about engineering students being one dimensional.  Their talents – as well as those of other students - result in capacity crowds of 600 persons attending performances of our Drama Club. 

The acting and singing abilities of Megan and Eric are phenomenal.  At most institutions, students with their talents would be majoring in theatre, drama or voice.   At Rose-Hulman, however, they are majoring in mechanical engineering.   Megan is a sophomore and Eric is a senior.  Eric will begin his engineering career this summer working for Cummins in Columbus, Indiana.  But, I have strong feeling his stage performances won’t end. 

Megan and Eric are engineering majors and they love to act and sing, but it doesn’t end there.  Both of them have been very involved in other activities.  For example, Megan is one of our student workers in Hatfield Hall and is a member of the Student Alumni Association.  She also competed in the Miss Kentucky USA pageant.  Eric served as the Executive Director of the Student Government Association, President of the Drama Club, Vice President of Blue Key and as a Resident Assistant.

I want to tell you about another student.  Eric Clifft, a senior mechanical engineering student, has made a major impact on improving the lives of people thousands of miles away in a rural African village.  Eric saw a need and did something about it.  He created the campus chapter of Engineers without Borders after reading a magazine article about the lack of infrastructure hindering economic development in Africa.  He knew Rose-Hulman could help.

Eric recruited other students to join Engineers without Borders.  Through his leadership, the students raised nearly $45,000.  In addition, Eric, along with nine other students, traveled to Obodan, a village of 2,000 people in Ghana, to construct a building in ten days that serves as a brooder house for chickens. 

To many of us, this may seem commonplace.  But it is much more than just constructing a building.  At least 1,000 baby chickens have already been raised in the brooder house.  The sale of those chickens will create a vital economic and nutritional impact on local residents.  Furthermore, the facility is becoming a model for other villages throughout Ghana and has helped Obodan to be submitted as a United Nations Millennium Village. 

Think about the impact that just one student – a Rose-Hulman student - has made on the lives of literally thousands of people.

In February, Eric was named to the All-USA College Academic Team, published in USA Today.  He was just one of 60 students to be selected on the team from more than 600 undergraduate students in the United States.

Lynn and I have enjoyed getting to know the students.  We have been impressed with not only their academic abilities, but their other abilities, skills, interests and passions.  We believe that students like Megan Greenwell, Eric Volz, and Eric Cliftt are representative of the types of students who attend Rose-Hulman – students who are very bright, highly motivated, self-starters and multi-dimensional. 

This brings me to another obligation - the obligation to continue attracting the best and brightest students with exceptional, wide ranging interests and talents.  We must ensure that in the future we can provide an even better education for these very gifted students.  We must challenge them to reach their full potential and to prepare them for a world that will expect more of them than what is expected today. 

Never before has the mission of this college been more important to our students, to Terre Haute, to our state and to our nation than it is today and will be tomorrow.   It is the technical and scientific talents of students like those in our audience today - and those who we will educate in the future - that will be critical to the future quality of life in America including our economic strength, prosperity, health, security, and our role as a global leader.

Repeatedly, our nation’s business leaders, noted scientists, engineers and education officials are calling for stronger support for science and technology.  Their message is one of urgency.  It comes from many sources such as the report from the National Academies of Science and Engineering along with the Institute of Medicine titled, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm".

According to the report, America faces a serious challenge to our future competitiveness and standard of living.  It states that the technical and scientific building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding while other nations are gathering strength in the same areas.  It calls for increases in federal support for science and technology education.  The report requests 25,000 new undergraduate scholarships of up to $25,000 annually in mathematics and science education. 

The federal government has announced a program called, “America’s Competitiveness Initiative,” that requests $139 billion over ten years.   A portion of that funding would support improvements in math and science for K-12 education, and improving higher education programs in the same subjects. 

Business leaders are urging Congress to provide funds to double the number of mathematics, science and engineering students within the next eight years.  They point out that our young people must understand that college degrees in these areas are key to opportunities in a technical economy.

Why all this concern?  Demographics show that the number of students in the pipeline who are interested in pursuing careers in science, mathematics or engineering is decreasing.  The numbers are even lower when you look at those students who have the ability to pursue degrees in these areas.  All of us need to be concerned about K-12 education, especially as it relates to science and mathematics.

Therefore, Rose-Hulman must contribute to improving K-12 education.  We must be concerned about the declining number of students who are interested in science, mathematics and engineering.  We have an obligation to partner with our colleagues in K-12 education – and perhaps with other universities – to increase the number of students who are academically prepared to enter these types of programs.  We must help fill the pipeline and stop the leaks.

Winston Churchill stated, “the price of greatness is responsibility.”  As Rose-Hulman’s reputation has grown, so have the expectations of this institution.  Because of our success, our role in the scientific and engineering communities is one of growing importance.

We are in the midst of completing a strategic plan for Rose-Hulman – a plan that will chart our course for the next seven to ten years – a dynamic, plan that will guide us to the 140^th anniversary of this institution in 2014.  The ultimate goal of our strategic plan must be to achieve a higher level of excellence for Rose-Hulman.  We need to be making an impact upon the world in which we live and we must strive for a new level of educational leadership that will allow us to “Continue our Legacy of Excellence.” 

As one of my heroes stated long ago, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”   This is very wise advice from Abraham Lincoln.  We have sharpened our ax, now it is time for us to start chopping.

As we go about completing the plan, I encourage you to dream – and to dream big.  We are not limited by our ideas, we are only limited by time and resources.  Rose-Hulman has never been shy at trying new things.  Without change and continued evolution, Rose-Hulman would not be the outstanding educational institution it is today.

We must adapt to the changes in engineering practice such as trends toward more sustainable, renewable resources; continued globalization; and broader career options for our graduates.  The content of our engineering curricula must be altered to include multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas of study.  There is a growing need for being able to gather, evaluate and apply massive amounts of information.  In addition, we must respond to the need for working in an increasingly diverse environment.

Our vision to be the best is always changing as the needs of our students, faculty, staff, alumni and society change.   We must develop goals to be the best in every aspect from recruiting the best students and most outstanding faculty and staff, to offering the best engineering, mathematics and science education that produces the best graduates.

However, excellence by itself is not enough.  Excellence in the absence of relevance is inconsequential.  Therefore, we must also strive to assure our programs are relevant to the needs of business, industry and society.  We must make an impact upon the world in which we live. 

As stated earlier, our country needs the type of education we can provide more than ever before.  Rose-Hulman must increase its ability to make significant contributions to improve the quality of life and our standard of living.  We must be seen as an increasingly important resource to the local community, to educators trying to improve math, science and technical education at the elementary and secondary education levels as well as serving as a model of excellence for our colleagues in higher education. 

As a result, Rose-Hulman’s faculty, staff, students and graduates will make an impact upon the world.  Think about the impact that Eric Clifft has made on the lives of literally thousands of people in Africa.  Imagine what he will do in his new job with Boston Scientific to improve health care. 

In the future, graduates will have a more significant impact upon the success of their employers, the engineering and scientific communities and the world in which we live. 

Think about the impact that young alumna Nicolee Nietch has made as a lead engineer for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  

Likewise, faculty and staff will have a stronger effect upon the engineering, scientific and education communities, Terre Haute, the state and the world in which we live.  Rose-Hulman will earn even greater respect by others as being a change agent for making a difference in the world.

We must give serious thoughts to Rose-Hulman’s role as a leader as we complete our strategic plan.  In many respects, we have been a leader in engineering education and we are seen as an educational leader by other institutions.  However, our leadership role has to expand and grow.  Leadership should be at the core of everything we strive to accomplish.  We must expand the opportunities for our faculty and staff to be leaders in their professions.   We must develop new ways to teach our students to be the intellectual, technical, business and civic leaders that the future will require.  We must provide leadership and professional development programs so that will be an educational resource to our alumni for their entire lifetime.

At the heart of any educational institution is the faculty.  Rose-Hulman is no different except that at the heart of this institution it is the faculty and staff.  Every success that we have had is because of the many contributions made by our faculty and staff. 

The faculty members here have a passion for teaching.  They spend a tremendous amount of time with the students, not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom as well – challenging the students and working with them on special projects. 

For example, the extra time spent by Professors Rick Stamper and Allen White working with students on the Efficient Vehicle Competition; by Professors Marc Herniter and Zac Chambers working with students on the Challenge X Competition; and by Professors Kay C Dee and Glen Livesay attending national and international research conferences with their students.  

In addition, our faculty members go to great lengths to provide innovative learning opportunities off campus.  Professor Penney Miller, for example, gave students a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they joined her on a research project in Antarctica.

Professor Kevin Sutterer gives a great deal of his time as the adviser to our student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  The chapter has been named the nation’s best student chapter for two consecutive years in large part because of the numerous community service activities and other projects completed by the chapter.

Our staff members play just as important a role in educating our students as the faculty, including our beloved housekeepers.  These dedicated employees care for our students as if they were their own sons and daughters.  At Christmas time, our students receive holiday treats provided daily on a special Christmas tree cared for by staff member Mary Greer.  The cookies, which she makes, and candies she puts on the tree each day have become a campus tradition.  Mary was not asked to do this.  She simply just does this out of love for the students.

In addition to challenging the students academically, our faculty and staff members – like our students – have other passions.  Our talented faculty and staff set an example for our students.  They serve as role models and as an inspiration to our students, whether it be Professor J.P. Mellor playing bagpipes; Professor Tom Adams playing classical guitar or staff member Cindy Richardson singing.

To quickly summarize – it’s all about striving for excellence, making an impact and being a leader.  Excellence, Leadership and Impact must be at the very heart of our strategic plan. 

Will there be challenges and obstacles in our way as we strive to achieve our future goals as outlined in our strategic plan?  Certainly!  I believe in the words of noted educator Booker T. Washington who said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”

I strongly believe that the tremendous pride all of us have in this institution will allow us to overcome any obstacles and will create a great deal of optimism for our future.  

An unknown philosopher once said, “Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.”

Together we have much to do.  Together we have many dreams to achieve.  If we think big, big things will happen.  I am very optimistic about the future of this institution.  We have an exceptional team here at Rose-Hulman.  It’s my privilege and honor to be a part of this team and this community. 

Abraham Lincoln said, “That some achieve great success is proof to all, that others can achieve it as well.”  I believe that by working together, Rose Hulman can achieve even higher levels of greatness and success.

Let me conclude by quoting Peter Drucker, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” 

I look forward to your friendship and support - and to working with all of you during our exciting journey that lies ahead - as we create our future at being the best in engineering, mathematics, and science education; at making an impact upon the world in which we live, and being a leader in every aspect in the delivery of education and the development of tomorrow’s leaders.  Our successes will ensure our goal of “Continuing our Legacy of Excellence.” 

Thank you.