University Daily Kansan
Page 2
Friday, Jan. 8, 1965
Boxers, Pipes Comprise New Dean
Some foggy night when you may be walking down West Campus and suddenly be confronted with a man smoking a pipe and being pulled by two large boxers, this man will undoubtedly be Prof. William P. Smith, chairman of the electrical engineering department and the man scheduled to replace John S. McNown as dean of the engineering school this summer.
Prof. Smith does not anticipate too many changes when he switches jobs, "Factor up the ratio of staff and students by a factor of five to one and you'll have the picture," he said. Professor Smith supervises a staff of about 20 in his present position. He will be in charge of about 100 faculty members in his new capacity.
"I ONLY hope I'm not going to be five times as busy." Prof. Smith said. "Engineering education is undergoing a gradual change," Prof. Smith said. "The pendulum that swung way over to the physics and applied mathematics aspect of engineering is swinging back to design," he said.
"Today's engineer needs to be a lot smarter than they were in the 30's and 40's when some of us got our degrees," Prof. Smith said.
Prof. Smith said engineers need to have a wider education. He would like for engineers to get more humanities and social science in their curriculum. Some engineers are too introverted, he felt.
"The BIGGEST complaint from people that hire engineers is that engineers can't speak or write," Prof. Smith said.
"An engineer of the future must worry about the sociological implications of his work along with the technical problems," he said.
Prof. Smith felt this broader education could be given to engineering students within the basic four year schedule without going to a five year plan.
"Engineering is not a field for a playboy," he said. "The average engineer graduates in four and a half years in a four year program," he said.
"I CANNOT see any of the Big Eight schools going to a five year program in the near future," he said.
Prof. Smith believes high school students should learn more about engineering before they come to KU. In the past, representatives have been sent from KU to give more information about engineering to high school math and science teachers.
"A freshman coming to KU usual ly doesn't have any engineering courses until his sophomore or junior year," he said.
"Life here is never dull" was the way 1963 KU graduate Truman Howell Jr., described his Peace Corps ventures in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in a letter recently received.
Prof. Smith was interested in giving all freshman engineering students some sort of introductory course to show them the nature of engineering. The chemical and civil engineering departments already have such a program.
Letter Reports Peace Corps Life
"THE FRESHMAN enrollment is
Howell, Raytown, Mo., joined the Peace Corps after graduating in architecture. He reported the problems in the area as being the same the world over — economy, food, health, etc. He said, however, that the solutions must be met in different ways than, for instance, in America, "This, then," he said, "is what makes this a frontier and an interesting life."
"We may not find all the solutions, or those that we find may not be the correct ones," he continued. "I believe, however, that the search is the important thing, and someday the solutions will be found."
steadily increasing about 10 to 15 percent a year," he said.
"In the next five years half of the engineers getting a bachelor's degree will go on to more advanced degrees," he said.
Howell was editor of the School of Engineering and Architecture magazine, "The Kansas Engineer." He was also vice-president of the Student Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Prof. Smith says men in his department are going on to get advanced degrees not only in engineering, but in business, and even law.
Prof. Smith revealed that the hardest duty he has ever performed was telling a high school junior in five minutes what an electrical engineer does.
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