Students and faculty discuss Rose

On Tuesday, the Blue Key Honor Society hosted its Student/Faculty Dialogue in the Faculty/Staff Dining Room. Stephen Lewis, President of Blue Key, introduced what the talk was and how it was presented for people that were unfamiliar with the process. “[With a] proactive approach the school has towards things, it’s hard to come up with things to talk about,” finished Lewis.

The way the talk functioned was for each member of Blue Key to present a topic they felt was relevant to be researched, presented it at the talk, and then the floor was opened up to discussion. The topics presented by the student members were suggestions for improvements and changes around campus.

Overall, there were 17 topics brought up; approximately 14 of them were discussed amongst the group.

John O’Grady, a junior chemical engineering student, brought up the first topic, which was the Promotion/Tenure/Retention (PTR) committee. “The one point I’ll be focusing on is the student/professor evaluations which are rated heavily. I feel there should be someway a little less rigid in which the students could be involved.”

Bill Eccles, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, addressed this comment, “I think the important thing about what is presently going on is there has been a question raised about the process. There is a committee that is headed by Dr. McKinney, which is looking at the PTR process. I would presume there would be a student involvement process, and I feel that they should talk with him.”

Brad Munchel, a junior chemical engineering student, discussed the possibility of having a waiting list for students when they register. “Other schools have a wait list for other classes, and it doesn’t have to apply to the core classes, but it might be useful for the humanities and electives.”

Tim Prickel, Registrar, responded, “We have looked into that and have talked to the department heads about that. It’s one of those domino things, where a student chooses to get on a waiting list, if it’s a required class, they are going to get into the class. If they are doing this for an elective, and a spot opens up, how do we know if that student wants to drop the class to avoid an overload? Is there somebody on the waiting list for the class, but that student is on the waiting list for another class, and it just goes on and on. We would like to work this out for our students, but we don’t know how to avoid the domino effect. It’s hard to prioritize these type of things.”

Emily Albert, on the behalf of another absent member, brought up how advisors email their students their pins instead of actually discussing any of the classes with them.

Eccles, responded, “I’m an advisor for freshmen this year. I’m going to look at midterm grades and grades from last quarter. It’s good to say ‘nice job keep it up’. Them meeting with me is part of what Rose-Hulman is to me… somebody cares.”

Cary Laxer, Department Head and Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering, also provided some feedback, “I also serve as a freshmen advisor. Sometimes it’s the one way to force the freshman into the office to have the five to ten minute conversation. They have a very hard time adjusting to the workload. The ice is broken, if you will, and this makes them comfortable to come talk to the advisor.”

Adam Ballard, a junior chemical engineering student, brought up the topic of how this is a pedestrian campus. “It’s really nice for students to be able to walk from their dorms to their classes or labs or whatever. I’ve been noticing a lot of people speeding, and so have my friends, and there just seems to be the problem with getting run over everyday. It’s either new people who don’t know the campus, or people who just don’t pay attention to things. Another suggestion: speed bumps in the high traffic area, like around the union, so the delivery trucks don’t come flying up. Perhaps look into culverts.”

Wayne Spary, Vice President for Facilities Operations, responded, “I’d rather install speed tables. Signage might not make any difference. We have been able to put sidewalks in, but people won’t walk on the sidewalks, and people won’t drive slowly even if they are told to do this.”

Edward Mottel, Associate Professor of Chemistry, had additional comments about this, “Figure out a penalty to impose on people. Most people don’t stop anyways at stop signs, so it’s really hard to figure out something to do for this when people don’t obey the laws.”

Jennifer Gordon, a junior biomedical and mechanical engineer, addressed the parking situation at the Union. “One handicap spot, it’s really inconvenient to park at the union when people visit, like at homecoming. The current situation is to park in either the SRC or Speed parking lots. Any thoughts on how to address the union parking situation?”

Wayne Spary, Vice President for Facilities Operations, responded, “The lack of parking here is bad and there is no quick solution. The area around the Union is the loading dock so there is no parking.”

Eric Volz, a senior mechanical engineering student, discussed sentiments towards Countdown to Commencement. “I think it’s fun and very informative. The timing on the events that happen could be a little different. The first is ‘Understanding and Evaluating Your Offer’; this would be most helpful following or in conjunction with the fall career fair. [The next is] ‘A Place We Call Home, Buying Versus Renting,’ I would like to have this happen before the winter/spring quarter.”

Kaleena Dale, Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs, responded with, “We moved things up from last year, and we can definitely do them anytime and it’s not a problem. Thank you for that suggestion.”