Biography: Dr. Gerald Jakubowski

Gerald Jakubowski was born the youngest of three children in 1949 in Toledo, Ohio. He was born into a middle class family. His father and mother, having a fifth and ninth grade education, respectively, recognized the importance of education, and stressed this to Dr. Jakubowski and his brother and sister from a very young age. Dr. Jakubowski’s father was an orphan. “He had a very tough life,” Dr. Jakubowski recalled.



Nonetheless, both of his parents were very smart people. “My dad, despite the fact that he didn’t have a lot of formal education, was a very smart guy. He could make things, fix things, and repair things… My dad was very handy. He was also very creative. He invented things and made things.” During his childhood, his father passed much of his practical knowledge on to Dr. Jakubowski: “It was always, ‘Dr. Jakubowski, come on, we’re going to fix this,’ or ‘Dr. Jakubowski, hand me this tool,’ and ‘Dr. Jakubowski, this is how this works.’”



From an early age, his father had encouraged Dr. Jakubowski to pursue engineering. “My earliest memories and recollections of my dad talking to me are of him telling me ‘You’re going to be an engineer.’ I just grew up and I heard that my entire life, and so when it came time for me to graduate from high school and go off to college, there wasn’t any doubt about what I was going to do: I was going to get into an engineering program.”







The college years



After graduating from high school in 1967, Dr. Jakubowski entered the University of Toledo’s community college, where he studied for a year before transferring into the engineering school. He recalls: “When I graduated from high school, being from Toledo, Ohio, kids just did not look around for other places to go to college. Most people thought ‘We had a university right here in Toledo, why would you even consider going to other places for college?’”



Another sign of the times as Dr. Jakubowski entered college was the Vietnam War, and he was part of the first draft lottery. Rather than being drafted, Dr. Jakubowski quit school and entered the Army Reserve.



After returning from active duty, Dr. Jakubowski started working full-time as an assistant plant engineer and taking classes part-time in the evening. “It got to the point where I was working full-time during the day and going to school full-time at night.”



At first, engineering didn’t click with Dr. Jakubowski. “In the first few years, I struggled,” he remembers. However, Dr. Jakubowski continued to work and learn. “Toward the end of my undergraduate degree program, things started to fall into place. I started getting good grades. I liked and understood engineering.”



After three and a half years of working in industry while taking classes, Dr. Jakubowski received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo, seven years after starting. Because he enjoyed engineering to such an extent, he decided to stop working as a plant engineer and pursue his master’s degree in mechanical engineering full-time at the University of Toledo.



During his work toward his master’s degree, Dr. Jakubowski was given the opportunity to teach. “I absolutely loved teaching and that’s what prompted me to go on and get my Ph.D.” Dr. Jakubowski recounts.



Dr. Jakubowski’s graduate studies specialized in thermodynamics. His master’s research involved studying the heat transfer coefficient of boiling water over liquid metals, while his doctorate research examined hot water cooling using spray arrays.



While working towards his Ph.D. in 1976, Dr. Jakubowski was asked by the dean of the engineering college to work as his administrative assistant, an offer which he accepted. This would be the beginning of his career in engineering education administration.







Career



Upon graduating with his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1978, Dr. Jakubowski started teaching at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. While in Alabama, Dr. Jakubowski was contacted by the dean at the University of Toledo and asked to return to working in the dean’s office.



After returning to the University of Toledo, Dr. Jakubowski taught in the Department of Mechanical Engineering department two-thirds of the time and worked in the dean’s office for the remaining third. While working in the mechanical engineering department, he was awarded tenure and was promoted. However, because of his administrative responsibilities, he was eventually promoted to Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering.



Dr. Jakubowski then left the University of Toledo in 1988 and became the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Memphis State University, now known as the University of Memphis. After serving as associate dean for one year, he acted as interim dean of the college for one year.



Dr. Jakubowski was then offered a position at Loyola Marymount University as Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, which he accepted, moving to Los Angeles in 1990. At Loyola Marymount, he worked to increase campus diversity and was involved in fundraising efforts that raised $19 million for a new science and engineering building, as well as developing funds for other facilities at the college. While there, he was very active in the Society of Automotive Engineers, where he met his wife-to-be, Lynn, who was working for the organization.



In 2004, Dr. Jakubowski took a job at Arizona State University as vice president of the university and provost of the polytechnic campus. There, he devised a five-year plan for new programs and facilities and found ways to encourage the local community to become involved in the ASU campus. After two years at ASU, Dr. Jakubowski was extended an offer to be president of Rose-Hulman.







Arrival at Rose-Hulman



To Dr. Jakubowski, the difference between ASU and Rose-Hulman was immediately obvious: “Arizona State University has over 66 thousand students. To put that into perspective, that’s greater than the population of Terre Haute. When you get that large, there are a lot of commuters at ASU. There is a lot of traffic on campus. When students come here [to Rose-Hulman], the vast majority of students want to live on campus and want to graduate in four years. At ASU, they commute, work, and it could take seven to nine years to get their degree.”



He also noted that “Students at Arizona State do not feel connected to the institute… There’s no love or affection affinity to ASU. The students here at Rose-Hulman love the place… And when they graduate, they continue that love and affection. Rose-Hulman has one of the most loyal alumni bases that I’ve seen at any institution.”



Upon arriving at Rose-Hulman, several aspects of the institute surprised him. “I’ve known Rose-Hulman for over 30 years… I was first introduced to Rose-Hulman through Triangle Fraternity. I thought that I knew about Rose-Hulman, but once I got here, I found out about how much I don’t know about Rose-Hulman and everything has just been a pleasant surprise.”



“The thing that is surprising to me is the quality of the students that come here, the fact that they are not only very bright academically, but they come to Rose-Hulman with a wide array of interests,” he continued. “[I was impressed with] the students that play on the football team, the pep band, the cheerleaders, the stands filled with students and parents and supporters, and I never expected that and it was a pleasant surprise. I never anticipated a group of engineering students to be interested in the drama club… I’ve been impressed with the chorus, the jazz band, the women’s basketball team, and I could go on and on. I never expected to see any of that when I got here. I thought Rose-Hulman was just an engineering school that does a great job in the classroom of teaching engineering, and never expected students to be doing anything else.”



Rose-Hulman’s campus chemistry astounded Dr. Jakubowski: “Rose-Hulman is such an open community. Nobody locks their doors, they just leave their doors open in the residence halls. The other thing that is a little amazing is when I walk through the student union during lunch time, I look at all of the backpacks that are just sitting there on floor, and no one has to worry about their backpack being stolen. I can tell you that you can’t do that everywhere. Of all of the universities that I’ve been at, that would not happen… There is just a very special culture here that is just so unique to Rose-Hulman and there are just a lot of special things about this place.”



Dr. Jakubowski also recognized the contributions of Rose-Hulman’s faculty and staff: “The faculty who come here are truly dedicated to teaching. The staff play just an important role in educating the students as the faculty… They want to spend time with the students. Not only in the classroom, but more importantly, outside the classroom. The faculty are willing to work with the students side by side to guide them, to work on the special projects, and so there is a tremendous amount of learning that takes place in the classroom, and outside the classroom as well. [They are also] very humble - they act as normal people and want to spend time with the students. At all of the other universities I’ve been to, they reach a point where [the faculty] are very snobbish. The fact that we have faculty who are dedicated to teaching, and all the co-curricular activities that we provide, and this whole spirit of community that exists here at Rose-Hulman - that we are a community of faculty, staff, and students - all of this results in engineers really being able to hit the ground running after they graduate.”



Some of Dr. Jakubowski’s favorite moments at Rose-Hulman so far have included lighting the bonfire at Homecoming and attending a Christmas party for mentally challenged people sponsored by several Greek organizations.



When asked about his proudest accomplishment so far while at Rose-Hulman, Dr. Jakubowski valued the time he and Lynn had spent with the campus community: “Lynn and I have tried to involve ourselves with the students as much as possible… The other thing I’m very proud of is that I have met all of the faculty and all of the staff and Rose-Hulman. In the process of doing that, I’ve learned the culture and traditions of Rose-Hulman.”



With Dr. Jakubowski’s first year at Rose-Hulman comes to a close, he is looking forward to many to come: “It’s better than I ever imagined or anticipated… I think we do a much better job at Rose-Hulman than any other institute in the United States.”