In order to maintain a reputation for an excellent education in engineering, Rose-Hulman must constantly adapt to meet the challenges of such a dynamic field. This process involves not only bringing in new equipment and new ideas, but bringing in new people as well. Everyone at Rose is aware of the over four hundred new students who have recently arrived on campus. What is not well known is that the school also acquired twelve new faculty members.

The department of Physics and Applied Optics lost several faculty members late last year and is still looking for permanent replacements. Meanwhile, Joe West and Maarij Syed are here on one-year contracts. Dr. West received his Ph.D. from Arizona State and has come here from Wabash College, where he taught for three years. Dr. Syed previously taught at Kalamazoo and received his doctorate from Notre Dame.

Currently, the Mathematics department has one faculty member on leave, one on sabbatical, and one resignation from last year. The department gained three new faculty members. LeRoy Franklin recently left his position at the Indiana State School of Business. Jarek Lech comes from Michigan State, while Dave Voss is from Western Illinois University.

Two new faculty members, William Seyfried from the Humanities and Social Sciences department and Rick Stamper from Mechanical Engineering were part of the Rose-Hulman graduating class of 1985. Seyfried, who received his doctorate from Purdue, was so impressed by his experience at Rose that he felt he must take the opportunity to work here once it was provided. Stamper was also very impressed, stating that “The philosophy of the school aligns with what I feel will be successful.” Since graduating from Rose, Stamper has gained a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, worked at GE for seven and a half years, and taught at Auburn University.

Andrew Kinley, the only faculty member to be added to the Computer Science department this year, also shared his reasons for selecting Rose-Hulman as a place to seek employment. According to Kinley, “the atmosphere of a small school has a strong appeal based on my own personal experiences, and the close interaction of students and faculty members both in and out of the classroom provides a better environment within which all can learn.”

New to the Chemical Engineering department are Mark Anklam, Antanas Servezov, and Michael Misovich. Anklam earned his doctorate from Princeton and has recently been doing research in England. Servezov researched at Praxair, Inc. and received a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. Misovich most recently taught at Villanora University with a Ph.D. from Michigan State.

The Civil Engineering department added one new professor, Kevin Sutterer from the University of Kentucky.

The Chemistry department, however, has not yet found new members. According to department head Rita Hessley, the department was hoping to add faculty this fall but was unsuccessful in its search. To keep up the quality of the education here, the process of finding professors that coincide with the vision of the administration is an exhaustive one that will continue indefinitely.

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