Wayne Davis to serve as Interim Chancellor

#27
#27
jackcrevol said:
Engineers can seldom see beyond black and white, sometimes having difficulty stepping back to see entire picture. Have a penchant for being extremely conservative...this hire was made extremely quickly. its almost as it it were pre meditated, or, someone high above hand picked a yes man.

Wonder who would make a power move to install a staunch conservative yes man? Does this sound like Haslam?

i hope my stereotype is waay off base. the man IS qualified. i dont mean to incite anger about bias toward wngineers. i just dont trust the Haslam's as far as they can be thrown. Also feel like as long as theyre involved in UT athletics, we're doomed.
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Or this could fit the alternative view - that Dr P is ridding the university of HOH-related executive and replacing quickly (before HOH has time to respond) with a UT guy...

Hmmmm
 
#28
#28
ptcarter said:
The stereotype of an engineer, heads down over a calculator, or with a hard hat and a set of blueprints is accurate to a degree. But, if you have ever been to a city planning meeting or a public forum where an engineer has to defend his design to the public, political savvy is as much a part of the job as any other politician.

One thing about engineering - the whole concept of an engineer is to solve problems. First 3 years of undergraduate school is calculus, chemistry, physics (with a very small tad of English put in there). These courses set the groundwork for being able to describe the physical world mathematically. With that knowledge, not only do engineers solve problems, but they attempt to solve them with the most efficient solution, looking at things like material selection, sizing and labor costs. This is a good skill set that can be applied to many different jobs, including Chancellor.
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Try the first 1.5-2 years, max. I’d dare say most disciplines have dept. specific 100/200/300 level courses that are taken in the 2nd - 4th semesters. As an EE, I can attest to this.

The last 4 semesters are nothing but core departmental requirements, cross-discipline electives and senior design (capstone or -fill in the blank-).

You’re truly mistaken if you believe engineers aren’t given education in their discipline until their senior year.

Off the cuff, and it’s been many years for me, the ECE courses were:

ECE 206 (C++ Programming)
ECE 255 (Digital Logic)
ECE 300 (Circuit Analysis)
ECE 313 (Probability and Random Variables)
ECE 315/316 (Signals and Systems I and II)
ECE 325 (Electromagnetic Devices/Motors)
ECE 335/336 (Microelectronics I and II)
ECE 341 (Electromagnetics/Waves)
ECE 342 (Analog Communications)
ECE 355 (Assembly Language - Programming)
ECE 395 (Junior Seminar)
ECE 400 (Senior Design)
ECE 4XX (pick any 4, 2 have to be in sequence... this is where engineers complete their “focus”... mine was power systems and power electronics... ECE 421/422 and ECE 481/482, respectively)

As you can see, a helluva lot more goes in to the curriculum than Calc., Diff. Eqns., Chem., Physics, Social Sciences, and English.
 
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#29
#29
Behr said:
Uneducated response.

I'm not familiar with how much time is the normal amount in a situation like this. My initial thought was naming an interim Chancellor in less than 24 hours of dismissing her, is an indication that the dismissal of Bev and choice of interim was strategically planned and Haslam is involved.

Maybe its normal though. Idk.
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Ah ok
 
#30
#30
Behr said:
Uneducated response.

I'm not familiar with how much time is the normal amount in a situation like this. My initial thought was naming an interim Chancellor in less than 24 hours of dismissing her, is an indication that the dismissal of Bev and choice of interim was strategically planned and Haslam is involved.

Maybe its normal though. Idk.
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OR it could be that diPietro is actually competent and had his ducks in row before booting Bev.

I've always wondered why she stepped down as President of UCincy to take a job as a Chancellor and why Cincy didn't seem to fight at all to keep her.
 
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#31
#31
Squints said:
Try the first 1.5-2 years, max. I’d dare say most disciplines have dept. specific 100/200/300 level courses that are taken in the 2nd - 4th semesters. As an EE, I can attest to this.

The last 4 semesters are nothing but core departmental requirements, cross-discipline electives and senior design (capstone or -fill in the blank-).

You’re truly mistaken if you believe engineers aren’t given education in their discipline until their senior year.

Off the cuff, and it’s been many years for me, the ECE courses were:

ECE 206 (C++ Programming)
ECE 255 (Digital Logic)
ECE 300 (Circuit Analysis)
ECE 313 (Probability and Random Variables)
ECE 315/316 (Signals and Systems I and II)
ECE 325 (Electromagnetic Devices/Motors)
ECE 335/336 (Microelectronics I and II)
ECE 341 (Electromagnetics/Waves)
ECE 342 (Analog Communications)
ECE 355 (Assembly Language - Programming)
ECE 395 (Junior Seminar)
ECE 400 (Senior Design)
ECE 4XX (pick any 4, 2 have to be in sequence... this is where engineers complete their “focus”... mine was power systems and power electronics... ECE 421/422 and ECE 481/482, respectively)

As you can see, a helluva lot more goes in to the curriculum than Calc., Diff. Eqns., Chem., Physics, Social Sciences, and English.
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Ha..OK, it took me 5 years.. so my timeline is skewed. You are right though. I didn't really mean to imply no engineering until the end.

My freshman first quarter, besides math, chem and english, I had drafting and statics. Next quarter, dynamics (which is sort of physics). Other basic engineering in the first couple of years was Thermo, Strength of materials etc..

Last year was pretty targeted for what major you chose. Me, I was in structural, so I spent a lot of time calculating stresses in beams, columns, slabs and trusses.

As of July, I'm a realtor. Love listening (with mouth shut) to home inspectors. Some are really good.
 
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#33
#33
I always thought the Davenport hiring was a PR move amidst the Title IX investigation. She may not have been the best candidate.
 
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#34
#34
ptcarter said:
Ha..OK, it took me 5 years.. so my timeline is skewed. You are right though. I didn't really mean to imply no engineering until the end.

My freshman first quarter, besides math, chem and english, I had drafting and statics. Next quarter, dynamics (which is sort of physics). Other basic engineering in the first couple of years was Thermo, Strength of materials etc..

Last year was pretty targeted for what major you chose. Me, I was in structural, so I spent a lot of time calculating stresses in beams, columns, slabs and trusses.

As of July, I'm a realtor. Love listening (with mouth shut) to home inspectors. Some are really good.
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All I can say is, better you than me. I hate, hate, hate static physics, just as I’d surmise you hate voltage and current. 😀

CEs and EEs are completely, and diametrically, opposed in the schism of least favorite subjects, and somewhere in the middle lie the MEs, NEs, IEs, Chem.Es, etc.

I’m not at all diminishing what CEs do, just that if the world were dependent on people like me to build bridges, they’d be taking the ferry.
 
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#36
#36
Squints said:
All I can say is, better you than me. I hate, hate, hate static physics, just as I’d surmise you hate voltage and current. 😀

CEs and EEs are completely, and diametrically, opposed in the schism of least favorite subjects, and somewhere in the middle lie the MEs, NEs, IEs, Chem.Es, etc.

I’m not at all diminishing what CEs do, just that if the world were dependent on people like me to build bridges, they’d be taking the ferry.
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Ha.. My Dad used to call electricals "Low Volts"... or "Sparky's".. lol

The circuits class we took (and I know you know this), we had a derogatory term for mr. Kirchoff's voltage law. .. substitute J for K..lol Maybe that's why they call it sophomoric humor. We were sophomores.
 
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#38
#38
jackcrevol said:
Engineers can seldom see beyond black and white, sometimes having difficulty stepping back to see entire picture. Have a penchant for being extremely conservative...this hire was made extremely quickly. its almost as it it were pre meditated, or, someone high above hand picked a yes man.

Wonder who would make a power move to install a staunch conservative yes man? Does this sound like Haslam?

i hope my stereotype is waay off base. the man IS qualified. i dont mean to incite anger about bias toward wngineers. i just dont trust the Haslam's as far as they can be thrown. Also feel like as long as theyre involved in UT athletics, we're doomed.
Click to expand...
I completely disagree with this having worked with tons of engineers. If anything they have a profinity for seeing the big picture
 
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#40
#40
ptcarter said:
Ha.. My Dad used to call electricals "Low Volts"... or "Sparky's".. lol

The circuits class we took (and I know you know this), we had a derogatory term for mr. Kirchoff's voltage law. .. substitute J for K..lol Maybe that's why they call it sophomoric humor. We were sophomores.
Click to expand...

We said the same exact thing. A pack of about 15-20 of us were certifiably from the loony bin, but why shouldn’t we have been, is my question? We got thrown to the damn wolves, especially at midterm and finals, in every class (makes you think the department planned it lol). No joke, we’d coast along smoothly until two weeks before midterm, and bam, 🖕 students!!! Then, same thing heading in to finals. The professors were wise enough to dodge the 10% grade limitation at the end, but that still didn’t stop them from assigning HW, quizzes, projects, etc. that snuck in below the threshold.

We had a professor that looked like Bob Barker (any EEs in here from the 90s - 2014-ish will know who I’m talking about), and when he walked in to class one day, we played the Price is Right theme song. He never skipped a beat.
 
#41
#41
Squints said:
We said the same exact thing. A pack of about 15-20 of us were certifiably from the loony bin, but why shouldn’t we have been, is my question? We got thrown to the damn wolves, especially at midterm and finals, in every class (makes you think the department planned it lol). No joke, we’d coast along smoothly until two weeks before midterm, and bam, 🖕 students!!! Then, same thing heading in to finals. The professors were wise enough to dodge the 10% grade limitation at the end, but that still didn’t stop them from assigning HW, quizzes, projects, etc. that snuck in below the threshold.

We had a professor that looked like Bob Barker (any EEs in here from the 90s - 2014-ish will know who I’m talking about), and when he walked in to class one day, we played the Price is Right theme song. He never skipped a beat.
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I'm a couple of decades before you, but the profs haven't changed. I hear it every day. I have two sons at UT now. My youngest, a "Sparky", lol and my oldest will graduate a week from today (I'll be there) from the college of Civil Engineering.

By the way, back on thread topic - my oldest said that Davenport spent a day looking at Civil stuff in the Tickle building and went back and made a statement on how she was looking at Electrical Engineering things. He was laughing. Either she was clueless, or wasn't paying attention, or just going through the motions.
 
#43
#43
Gandalf said:
Its not like Dipietro fired Beverly over one bad weekend. It was something clearly planned out and of course he would have already known who he was putting in as interim.

Real question is not this guy who seems well qualified and is all Vol - real question is who is appointed as permanent - almost guaranteed to be decided by Dipietro's successor. Timing at least looks right for Bill to step in after Gov is done. Joe leaves in the fall and a search committee, after interviewing multiple sacrificial candidates, remarkably finds that the right person was right here all along. :rolleyes: Then the new University President hand picks the new Chancellor. Someone please tell me that I am wrong and the stars dont look to be lining up that way like neon lights. :ermm:
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Haven’t heard anything about Joe leaving in the fall...has that been announced? He sure stays in the background! I long for the days of Andy Holt, Ed Boling, Joe Johnson and Chancellor Jack Reese!
 
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#44
#44
ptcarter said:
I'm a couple of decades before you, but the profs haven't changed. I hear it every day. I have two sons at UT now. My youngest, a "Sparky", lol and my oldest will graduate a week from today (I'll be there) from the college of Civil Engineering.

By the way, back on thread topic - my oldest said that Davenport spent a day looking at Civil stuff in the Tickle building and went back and made a statement on how she was looking at Electrical Engineering things. He was laughing. Either she was clueless, or wasn't paying attention, or just going through the motions.
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Maybe it was underground conduit :)
 
#46
#46
I had Dr. Davis for my last class at UT - CE486-Air and Waste Management. He was one of the best professors I had - genuine, down to earth and approachable. His class helped me land my first post-college job and he was thrilled to hear it. His track record with the College of Engineering was excellent and will translate over to his new role.
 
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#48
#48
Squints said:
All I can say is, better you than me. I hate, hate, hate static physics, just as I’d surmise you hate voltage and current. 😀

CEs and EEs are completely, and diametrically, opposed in the schism of least favorite subjects, and somewhere in the middle lie the MEs, NEs, IEs, Chem.Es, etc.

I’m not at all diminishing what CEs do, just that if the world were dependent on people like me to build bridges, they’d be taking the ferry.
Click to expand...

Ok, so maybe I do lie in the middle, being a "ChE Hardhat" - a descriptor our wonderful Sr. Process Design Professor, Dr. Oran Culberson (may he rest in peace) was fond of using. He knew, he'd spent at least a decade in industry after serving in WWII before he came to UT and Oak Ridge to teach and do research. I had him for a couple of courses in 1976 which was was what, some 42 years ago? Still remember that party at his place on Ft. Loudon Lake with him pulling skiers all afternoon and me on my new Suzuki 750 water buffalo (which gave up the ghost in Minnesota a few months later...)

Maybe I also lie in the beginning and in the end, but that would be strictly between me and the fencepost.

It takes all kinds to make up the world - also to build its infrastructure and industry with all the overlapping technologies involved, which would not happen without engineers.

The university will be well-served by the interim Chancellor for however long.
 
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#49
#49
Squints said:
We said the same exact thing. A pack of about 15-20 of us were certifiably from the loony bin, but why shouldn’t we have been, is my question? We got thrown to the damn wolves, especially at midterm and finals, in every class (makes you think the department planned it lol). No joke, we’d coast along smoothly until two weeks before midterm, and bam, 🖕 students!!! Then, same thing heading in to finals. The professors were wise enough to dodge the 10% grade limitation at the end, but that still didn’t stop them from assigning HW, quizzes, projects, etc. that snuck in below the threshold.

We had a professor that looked like Bob Barker (any EEs in here from the 90s - 2014-ish will know who I’m talking about), and when he walked in to class one day, we played the Price is Right theme song. He never skipped a beat.
Click to expand...

Did you ever have Dr. Michael Roberts? He's pretty infamous in the EE department.
 
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