Message from the Chair

Abstract

Our Division lost a great friend since my last Chair's message, a man who impacted every member in both seen and unseen ways.  Elsewhere in this issue Gary Bertoline, our immediate past Chair, pays tribute to Autodesk's Rodger Payne and in the proposed Division Awards on pages 31-33, I have outlined a Memorial Award intended to recognize industrial members of ASEE and EDGD who follow in Rodger's footsteps.  These, we hope in some small way, will mark Rodger's passing with gratitude for uncommon contributions.

Semester two is well under way.  An observation I have made in my change from Purdue (residential campus, small community, suburban-rural) to Arizona State-East (commuter campus, metropolis, urban-suburban-rurual), is that most of us who teach in major institutions are never exposed to the explosion of proprietary technical education.  In a large metro area like Phoenix, state-assisted public technical education is just one of many choices available.  Where we are slow to change, for-profit institutions are often nimble.  Where we have all sorts of reasons why we can't do something, they quickly figure out how to do it.  We make students come to us.  They figure out ways to get the instruction to the students.  Something is happening here, and we ought to pay attention.

Bill Ross has outlined an interesting program for the ASEE Annual Meeting this summer in Seattle.  This is a chance for members (and potential members) from Western states to avail themselves of the professional experiences of a national meeting.  For everyone else in the great Eastern states, "let's get out there!"  I hope everyone has a productive semester and see you in Seattle.