Letters, posts and emails

Our cover story on Kirsten Bowen ’96 in the spring 2020 issue — “New civil engineer” — attracted several letters and emails, including these:

Not only an exceptional article, but one that was exceptionally well written and formatted. I recommend that it be reproduced and used as a recruiting tool for the Case School of Engineering. I had the pleasure of working with Chloe Singleton at the BF Goodrich Corporate Research Center in Brecksville, Ohio. Chloe long ago broke the male stereotype image at Case Institute of Technology and became (I do believe) the first very active Case alumna. We have certainly come a long way since then.

Cheers,

Bill Kroenke ’56, PhD ’63 CAA president 1989-90 wkroenke@comcast.net

Bravo and congratulations to Kirsten Bowen for her excellent project work.

Chandra Savalappan ’63 ckanapur@yahoo.com

I enjoyed the spring 2020 issue! One of the best. The article on Kirsten Bowen was very interesting — good to see some good things happening in Cleveland. Thought her comment on getting through high school pretty easily, and finding Case to be much harder, echoed my experience and that of many others. I remember sitting in orientation in the fall of 1965, with my two friends from Orange High School, when the professor said, “Look to the person on either side of you. Only one of you will likely graduate.” I’m told they don’t say stuff like that anymore!

I also enjoyed the “Long We’ll Remember” column on the last page. I have many similar remembrances from my time, 1965 to 1969. We had to dress in a good shirt, tie and jacket for dinner service. Someone noticed that the type of pants was not specified, so many of us would show up in shorts, until the dress code was amended.

Best regards,

Paul Binder ’69 pgbinder1@cox.net

I enjoyed the column by James Peckol in the spring 2020 Case Alumnus (“How does the Mercedes-Benz?”). And seeing the photo of an exam in Strosacker Auditorium brought back a memory.

In the fall of 1964, I was among hundreds of freshmen taking a physics exam in Strosacker. The topic was mass and momentum, and it was the era of James Bond movies. One question was: “James Bond fires his pistol at his archenemy, Oddjob, who weighs 250 pounds and is knocked backwards at a velocity of X feet/sec. The bullet velocity is Y feet/sec (I don't remember X and Y, and they are not relevant to the story). Question: What is the mass of the bullet?” I started to hear quiet chuckles around the auditorium, first just a few, and then widespread. I carefully wrote down the proper equations, converted units, and feverishly worked my slide rule to the answer: .007 grams!

The spring issue sure caught my attention. The Page 6 feature, “Best of Case,” detailing the awarding of the 2020 Samuel Givelber ’23 Award to Ken Barker ’70 brought back strong memories.

Samuel Givelber paid my full senior year tuition in 1959-1960 as I studied

Someone, probably a grad student, had a rich sense of humor.

Bart Hubbard ’68 barthubbardtx@gmail.com

air conditioning!

I would have had a very tough time without this help. I am still grateful for this gift.

Glen W. Dorow ’60 gandjdorow@gmail.com

Or by mail to: Case Alumnus

Tomlinson Hall, Room 109 10900 Euclid Avenue Cleveland OH 44106

Several features in the spring 2020 edition sparked memories.

My Case Alumnus issue arrived with a picture of the Navy V-12 unit on page 25. I think I am leading that unit.

Seniors graduated in November and received orders to report to the U.S. Naval Academy for officer training. In April 1944, these new ensigns were assigned sea duty.

Ted Stirgwolt ’43 tstirgw@aol.com

Editor’s note: We checked the archives and that is indeed Ted Stirgwolt leading the march. The V-12 unit represented 37 percent of the 183 members of the Class of ’43. Ted was “pony back” on the football team and senior class president.

It's probably an honor to be joining the ranks of the elder graduates. I started Case with a log decitrig hyperbolic slide rule that I recall cost $28. Now even my grade-school grandchildren are using laptop computers. The new electrical engineering building is now the biomedical engineering building. I hope EE is still taught, since most of the hard stuff, like unbalanced three-phase networks, can now be put on a computer.

For me, Case was the jumping board for my career in lighting. I made the cover of this magazine for lighting Wrigley Field and won the top lighting award from the IES. I also became a fellow of the IES for writing a book on industrial lighting. I owe a lot to Case for teaching me to be an engineer.

John P. Frier ’56

Hendersonville, North Carolina Susie Nagorney ’76 wrote to tell us she recognized a couple of Sigma Nus in the photo from the 90th Annual All Classes Banquet (“Case Memories”).

The smiling young man in full beard and mustache at the front table, far left, is Daniel P. Fisher ’75. Sadly, Dan is deceased. Next to him (in glasses) is Bill Langenhop ’75 of Lakewood, Ohio. Bill helps make the magic happen on stage as a master carpenter and the assistant technical director at Great Lakes Theater.