IN MEMORIAM
Arthur Thompson First ENG Dean Put College on Path to Prominence Arthur T. Thompson, the first dean of Boston University College of Engineering, died on May 9 at the age of 96. Serving with distinction from 1964 to 1974, Thompson laid the foundation for the College’s accreditation, instituted novel degree programs and considerably expanded undergraduate and graduate offerings. In 1963, Boston University hired Thompson, then a longtime associate dean of engineering at Penn State University, to become dean of the College of Industrial Technology (CIT), which offered three degree programs in technology, aeronautics and management. Reflecting on that time a few months before the College’s 50th anniversary, Thompson noted that “the soil was rich for this little technical school to grow.” When CIT was officially renamed as the Boston University College of Engineering on February 27, 1964, his primary mission was to transform it into an accredited engineering program. During his deanship, the new Aerospace, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering departments received accreditation. The College also instituted the nation’s first BS degree program in bioengineering and expanded to five BS and three MS programs in five fields. “Dean Thompson took some major risks and took on the responsibility of starting a small engineering college in the shadow of a very large, world-class college across the river, and did it successfully,” said Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen. Thompson left the College in 1974, having accomplished the mission he had signed up for a decade earlier. “I felt I had completed my job because the school had taken off, we were accredited and applications were coming in,” he said.
Opening of the College of Engineering Building at 110 Cummington Mall in February 1964. Left to right, Merritt A. Williamson, dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture at Penn State, BU President Harold C. Case and BU College of Engineering Dean Arthur T. Thompson. Williamson gave the Convocation Address at the inaugural ceremony of the College.
After serving BU as engineering dean, associate vice president and professor of engineering, Thompson became provost at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He received an arts degree from Colby College, an engineering degree from Penn State, a master’s degree in engineering from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Thompson was predeceased by his wife of 70 years, Virginia (Deringer) Thompson, and is survived by daughters Deborah A. and Harriet T. Thompson of Newton; granddaughter Ashima Scripp and husband Robert Bloomfield of Windham, NH; and great grandson Thatcher Bloomfield.
Daniel Udelson
Professor Daniel Udelson, chair of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering from 1981 to 1991, with supersonic wind tunnel
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BU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Daniel G. Udelson, a retired professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and research professor of urology, died on March 29. Udelson, who served as chair of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering from 1981 to 1991, recruited distinguished researchers including Professor John Baillieul (ME, SE), Professor Thomas Bifano (ME, MSE), Adjunct Research Professor Donald Wroblewski (ME), Professor Michael Howe (ME) and the late Charles Speziale. A US Navy veteran of World War II, Udelson earned a PhD at Harvard University and joined the Boston University faculty in the early 1960s. Udelson is survived by his wife, Mary Ellen (Messina) Udelson, children John Udelson and Christina Knopp, and grandchildren William and Elizabeth Knopp.
Jarl R. Ekstrom (’48), Hollis, NH Peter Romagnoli (’51), Salisbury, MA James A. Bandouveres (’55), Old Orchard Beach, ME Raymond A. Lindholm (’57), Cary, NC Carl P. Rose (’59), Homosassa, FL Sydney E. Schmedes (’60), Staten Island, NY Frederick G. W. Gleitsmann (’61), La Plata, MD Elliott S. Shulman (’62), Sarasota, FL Francis R. DeLuca (’62,‘67), Wareham, MA William D. Krasnow (’64), Newton Highlands, MA Robert E. Votapka (’64), Tyngsboro, MA Charles E. Dearborn, Jr. (’65), Newmarket, NH James M. O’Reilly (’65), Belmont, MA John Kazarosian (’68), Atkinson, NH Richard E. Powers (’70), Rutland, MA George T. Vathally (’70), Haverhill, MA Stephen D. Holland (’78), Winter Park, FL Keith Collins (’91), New Orleans, LA
TOP PHOTOGRAPH BY BU PHOTOGRAPHY
PASSINGS