Letter to the editor: Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering

To the Editor:

Your spoof article about the school of engineering closing was not that far off—due to zombies taking over yes, but due to lack of faculty members and course offerings, absolutely. Freshmen and sophomore engineers, I would like you to read very carefully: over the next year the Kazuo Inamori School of Engineering will be changing dramatically. We will be losing five faculty members due to retirement and our lovely University is only willing to replace one, maybe two of them.
Yes, the school has just gotten three well qualified faculty members and they have recently interviewed several candidates for another Inamori position. However, if you have looked closely at the course offerings this coming fall you will notice that they are offering the bare minimum for students to graduate. If you are a graduate student, you may have had a hard time picking courses this fall because you found that you may have taken all of the courses on the list except for one or two. If you are working towards a PhD in glass science and you received your bachelor's in glass science here, you may notice that there are no new courses for you to take next semester.
The fact is that we need new professors and we need them now. Our school is offering the bare minimum for undergraduates to graduate. The course work offered for PhD students is not satisfactory, especially if they did their undergraduate degree here—which occurs over 50% of the time. PhD students desire courses which relate to their thesis work and also their own interests. What is the point of giving out a survey to see which courses graduate students are interested in taking if you are not going to offer any of those courses?
Undergraduates, you have the power to make a change. You are paying for your degree here at school, or at least your parents are. Make your voice heard and tell the school that you want the retiring professors to be replaced on a timely schedule and that you would like the elective courses offered regularly like they are supposed to be. If you want to stay here for graduate school, make sure these changes are made. We have excellent faculty members who are doing amazing research with the best equipment in the northeast. We have the right to classes and faculty turn-over.

-- A colleague and concerned engineer