Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (abbreviated RHIT), formerly Rose Polytechnic Institute, is a small private college specializing in teaching engineering, mathematics and science. Its 1,300-acre (2.0 sq mi; 526.1 ha) campus is located in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Video Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
History
Founding
Founder Chauncey Rose, along with nine friends, created the Terre Haute School of Industrial Science in 1874 to provide technical training after encountering difficulties in local engineer availability during construction of his railroads. Mr. Rose donated the land on 13th and Locust St. and the majority of the funds needed to start the new school. A year later, the cornerstone of the new institution was laid and the name was changed to Rose Polytechnic Institute despite the objections of the president of the board of managers and chief benefactor, Mr. Rose. The original campus was a single building, with no dormitories or recreational facilities.
The first class of 48 students entered in 1883, chosen from 58 applicants. Of the 48 students, all were male, and 37 came from Indiana. All but four students chose to major in Mechanical Engineering with Civil Engineering and Chemistry the only other majors. Nearly half of the original students would eventually quit their studies before graduation for a number of reasons, including poor grades or conduct. The first president was Charles O. Thompson, who modeled the education of Rose Poly after eastern institutions. Rose Poly was thus founded as the first private engineering college west of the Alleghenies.
During the beginning years of the school, money was a major concern. A lot of faculty and staff were forced to take pay cuts in order to stay at the institution.
In 1889 the school awarded what it considers to be the first Chemical Engineering degree in the country.
Relocation
In 1917, the school, having grown to more than 300 students, moved from 13th and Locust St. (on which now sits Chauncey Rose Middle School) to a new site consisting of 123 acres (0.50 km2) of farm land on U.S. 40 donated by the Hulman family of Terre Haute. The cornerstone of the new campus was laid in 1922. The new campus consisted of an academic building and the institute's first dorm, Deming Hall, which is still used by freshman today.
Early life at Rose consisted of social fraternities, athletics, and the occasional "high jinks." A popular "high jinks" involved the sophomore class inviting the freshmen class to a baseball game but were told to "leave their pipes with the nurse." The freshmen would produce the pipes at a specific time and a brawl would ensue.
War years
During World War I Rose Poly trained students in technical subjects like vehicle maintenance, and created a ROTC Engineer unit. During World War II the ROTC unit was replaced with an Army Specialized Training Unit and students could enter and graduate after every quarter in order to support the war effort. This enrollment schedule continued through the post-war years until 1951. A tank was located behind the north sides of Moench Hall and Myers Hall as a reminder of Rose Poly's war contributions, but has recently been moved from the campus for reasons unknown.
1960s-1970s
In recognition of the Hulman family's significant contributions and continued financial support, Rose Polytechnic was renamed Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1971.
During the 1960s and 70s, growth accelerated under president John A. Logan. Five new residence halls, a new student union, library, and a student recreation center were all constructed between 1963 and 1976. Permission was sought and received to increase the student population to 1000.
The quarterly cryptology journal Cryptologia was founded and published at RHIT from 1977 to 1995, at which time it was moved to the United States Military Academy.
1990s onwards
For most of its history, Rose-Hulman was a men's-only institution. It voted to become coeducational in 1991, with the first full-time women students starting in 1995. Also in 1995, the college required all incoming freshmen to purchase laptop computers, becoming one of the first schools to do so.
In the decade following 1995, Rose-Hulman's growth was aided by a major fundraising campaign called "Vision to be the Best." Originally a $100 million campaign over ten years, it met its goal in half the time. The goal was extended to $200 million, and by the end of the campaign in June 2004, over $250 million had been raised. In 2002, Hatfield Hall, a state-of-the-art theater and alumni center was opened. Five years earlier Shook Field House was replaced with the $20 million Sports and Recreation Center, which is a major reason that the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts used the campus for their summer training camp from 1999-2010.
After the 2004 retirement of institute president Samuel Hulbert, who had led the school since 1976, the college faced a leadership crisis. Soon after John J. Midgley arrived as the new president, rumors of conflict between Midgley and the administration started to circulate. Students, some wearing T-shirts proclaiming "Hit the Road Jack," held a rally calling for Midgley's resignation. Midgley resigned as president of the institute on June 11, 2005, less than a year into his presidency, after the faculty, staff, and Student Government Association approved votes of no confidence. During the succeeding academic year, Robert Bright, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, served as interim chief executive officer.
At a press conference on March 17, 2006, Bright named Gerald Jakubowski, Vice President and Professor of Engineering at Arizona State University, as the thirteenth president of the Institute. Jakubowski took over effective July 1, 2006. On February 23, 2009, Jakubowski announced that he would be resigning from the position of president, effective June 30.
On June 11, 2009, the college announced that the Board of Trustees had elected Matt Branam to serve as interim president. On December 4, 2009, the Board elected Branam as permanent president. In April 2012, Branam suffered a heart attack and was rushed to a hospital where he died shortly afterward. The cabinet subsequently selected Robert A. Coons as the Institute's Interim President.
On March 4, 2013, the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees named James C. Conwell as the institute's 15th president starting May 1, 2013.
In 2017, the school acquired 4.5 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) from the former home of Mari Hulman George.
Maps Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Campus
Rose-Hulman's 200-acre (0.3 sq mi; 80.9 ha) campus includes a baseball field, a softball field, and a soccer field at the west end, two bodies of water (known on campus as "Scum Pond" and "Speed Lake") surrounded by residence halls in the middle, the academic buildings east of that, and a row of fraternities further to the east. The Sports and Recreation Center (SRC), Cook Stadium, and other sports-related facilities anchor the north side of campus, and Oakley Observatory sits on the far east edge.
The entrance of the campus leads to Hadley Hall, the main administrative building. The center of campus is marked by the Grace and Anton Hulman Memorial Union, which includes dining facilities and administrative offices, as well as other campus-run businesses such as the bookstore and game room.
Rose-Hulman maintains a safe campus; the crime rate is low with only a few incidents reported each year. The Office of Public Safety provides 24-hour security and operates emergency call boxes situated throughout the campus to summon help for emergencies, for the escort service, or to get one's car unlocked to retrieve keys. All of the sidewalks are well-lit, and during winter the stairways and sidewalks are kept clear of snow and ice.
Residence halls
There are eleven residence halls on campus: Deming, Baur-Sames-Bogart (BSB), Speed, Mees, Scharpenberg, Blumberg, Skinner, Percopo, the Apartment Style Residence Hall (which consists of Apartments East and Apartments West), and Lakeside Hall. Combined, these halls can provide housing for over 1,100 students.
The oldest, Deming Hall, was built in 1926 and is an all-male hall. Deming houses 109 students, mostly freshmen, on four floors, and has no air conditioning. Baur-Sames-Bogart (BSB) Hall, built in 1956, is an L-shaped building with room for 144 students on three stories, mostly freshmen. The offices and studios of the campus radio station occupy much of BSB's basement. There are also some rooms in the basement for upperclass male students.
Speed Hall was built in 1963 and holds 116 male freshmen on three floors, with no air conditioning. North of Speed Hall is Speed Lawn, where many on-campus activities are held, and Speed Lake, a central part of the campus. Mees, Scharpenberg, and Blumberg (all built in 1966) constitute the Triplets. Mees and Blumberg house 76 students each on four H-shaped floors and Sharpenberg 70 students on three H-shaped floors (Sharpenberg's three first-floor rooms were converted into a Graduate Assistant apartment). Mees and Scharpenberg are nearly identical, with Blumberg being a mirror image of the two. Skinner, built in 1976, is an apartment-style residence hall on the east side of campus. Apartments in Skinner were originally composed of three bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen shared with three other apartments, but were remodeled to have only two bedrooms and a private kitchen. Skinner is the smallest residence hall, housing only 44 students and two resident assistants. Skinner is now used for sorority housing, split between the three sororities.
Percopo, built in 1999, is mainly a Sophomore-only hall, designed to retain and help educate Sophomore students. Percopo has in-house tutors and other resources geared towards assisting Sophomores through what is generally considered the hardest academic year. Percopo has 109 double-rooms (sharing a bathroom) on four floors.
The Apartment Style Residence Hall opened in the fall of 2004. The Apartments actually consist of two halls, referred to as East and West, connected by a commons area. Apartments East and Apartments West are identical, each having suites with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room. The commons area contains a Subway restaurant, a convenience store, lobbies, and laundry facilities.
Lakeside Hall is the most recently constructed hall on campus. The first floor is suite-style similar to Percopo Hall, including two in-house tutors, and the upper three floors are apartment-style. Lakeside Hall holds 240 students and opened on the fall of 2012.
Academic buildings
Rose-Hulman has four main classroom buildings plus a library, a mechanical engineering lab, and an administration building. The four main buildings are Moench Hall (houses Physics and Optical Engineering, Engineering Management, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering) Olin Hall, Crapo Hall, and Myers Hall. Olin came as a result of a proposal by Sam Hulbert and was later expanded to add eight more advanced learning classrooms. Olin includes a large occupancy by the Civil Engineering and Chemical Engineering Departments. Crapo is home to the Mathematics Department and has two floors of classrooms. The John T. Myers Center for Technological Research with Industry, the newest academic building, holds the Graduate Studies Office and some Bioengineering Department labs. The lower floor of Meyers hall has been renovated adding new high-tech classrooms to facilitate the growing number of classes offered at Rose. The largest, Moench Hall, is composed of four floors of classrooms, offices, and labs, and was the original academic building on campus built in 1922. All of the remaining departments have offices in Moench.
Chauncey's
Chauncey's is the campus game room for Rose-Hulman. It is managed and staffed by Rose-Hulman students, with the guidance of the Student Activities Department. It is open to all Rose-Hulman students, faculty, staff, and guests. There are two pool tables, a ping pong table, a foosball table, and recently added an air-hockey table. Rose-Hulman Residence Hall Association provides Chauncey's with DVD's that are made available for students to rent at no cost (Currently over 600 titles). The lounge in Chauncey's is furnished with five big-screen TV's, and plays host to a number of events.
Artwork
Public artwork is displayed across the campus. The Flame of the Millennium, designed by Leonardo Nierman, and its surrounding fountain is the largest and one of the newest of the sculptures. Other works can be seen in the Root Quadrangle around Olin, Moench, and Crapo, and opposite Olin toward the south end of campus.
Paintings and prints can also be found throughout the school. The largest collection is that of the late Omer "Salty" Seamon, a Hoosier watercolorist and illustrator. A 115-piece collection of 19th century British watercolors can be found in the Hulman Memorial Union. The art curator for Rose-Hulman also is in charge of rotating the art collections on the main floors of Moench Hall which are changed during the summer and also over Winter Break.
Academics
The curricula at RHIT concentrate on engineering and the natural sciences. The school's primary focus is undergraduate education, though there is a small graduate program for master's degree students. There are no doctoral programs. In 2005, Rose-Hulman had 161 faculty members, 99% of whom held a PhD. The current student-to-faculty ratio is 13:1. Admission to the institute remains competitive due to its self-selecting admissions class and applicant sharing with Purdue, and other top universities. In 2015, 547 freshman students enrolled out of 4,331 applicants. The school currently operates on three academic quarters plus an optional summer session.
Rose-Hulman is a member of the College Consortium of Western Indiana. This membership allows students who are full-time at their home institution to take classes at the other member institutions of Indiana State University and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Accreditation
The Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, and Software Engineering programs are accredited by The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Rose-Hulman is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and by the Department of Public Instruction of the State of Indiana. The Chemistry curriculum has been approved by the Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society.
In addition to institutional membership in the American Society for Engineering Education, the Institute is also a member of the Association of Independent Technological Universities, a group formed to further the interests of private engineering schools.
Rankings and reputation
As of 2016, the institute has been ranked #1 among engineering colleges that do not offer a doctorate degree by U.S. News & World Report for 18 consecutive years. Each individual program assessed has also been ranked first since the magazine has published individual rankings. These programs are the Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, and Biomedical Engineering programs (Biomedical Engineering programs have only received assessment in the 2015 rankings).
Student life
The student body tends to come mostly from the Midwest United States, though as the school has gained prominence it has gradually attracted a more geographically and ethnically diverse applicant pool. 39% of students hail from the state of Indiana with large numbers of students from the nearby states of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota. A 2003 gift of $7 million from an alumnus was specifically established to increase geographic diversity. International students currently make up about 3% of the student body. Approximately 23% of students are female. A sizable population is involved in Army and Air Force ROTC programs.
Greek life and honor societies
There are eight social fraternities and three social sororities, some of which have their houses on campus. The fraternities are: Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Sigma Phi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Nu, Theta Xi, and Triangle. The sororities are Delta Delta Delta, Chi Omega, and Alpha Omicron Pi. As of 2003, nearly 69% of the students were members of Greek social organizations.
Various academic, honor and service organizations are also represented, including Alpha Chi Sigma, Alpha Lambda Delta, Alpha Phi Omega, Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Mu Epsilon, Pi Tau Sigma, Sigma Pi Sigma, Tau Beta Pi and Upsilon Pi Epsilon.
Performing arts
There are currently eight different performing arts groups on campus: Chorus, Drama Club, String Ensemble, Jazz Band, Concert Band, Pep Band, Saxophone Choir, and Brass Quintet. All of the groups use the recently constructed Hatfield Hall for performances, rehearsal space, and storage. Most performing arts groups have published recordings used to recruit prospective students and promote the school's performing arts programs. In addition to these groups, Rose-Hulman also has the Performing Arts Series which brings mainstream acts to Hatfield Hall for the cultural enrichment of both the campus and community. Recent acts have included Jack Hanna, the Harlem Gospel Choir, and the East Village Opera Company all of whose shows sold out completely in only a few days. The 2013 Performing Arts Series is expected to be a success with many shows selling out due to the expected popularity of the shows including MOMIX, the Russian National Ballet, and John Pizzarelli.
Fight Song
"Dear Old Rose" the Rose Polytechnic Institute school song, arranged by Malcolm C Scott, class of 1922, and melody by "Beta Rose"
- Dear Old Rose
- Dear Old Rose
- The sweetest flower that grows
- Here's to your colors rose and white
- Here's to the ones who've kept them bright.
- Colors true for those who honor you
- Here's to everything you've done,
- Here's to every fight you've won.
- Dear old Rose.
It is performed by the Pep Band and sung only at football and basketball games after a victory.
Athletics
The Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers are the athletics teams for the school.
Media
The school is served by an independently-funded, student-run newspaper, The Rose Thorn, that focuses on campus news.
Rose-Hulman also has an amateur radio club which has an on-campus club station with club call sign W9NAA.
The Rose-Hulman Film Club produces student-directed short films.
The campus radio station was WMHD-FM 90.7 FM, "The Monkey." The station originally broadcast with a very low power transmitter and antenna located on campus, but later operated with an off-site transmitter at 1400 watts. The studio facilities for the station were in the basement of the BSB residence hall. The station was operated entirely by student volunteers, and all disc jockeys choose their own format and playlists. In August 2014, the station was sold to Indiana State University.
Homework Hotline
The Homework Hotline provides free homework help and tutoring to Indiana middle school and high school students. Thirty Rose-Hulman students per night field calls from around the state and help students answer math and science questions. In the 2007-08 school year, the hotline received a total of 44,151 calls. The hotline also conducted over 3000 online tutoring sessions. The program started in 1991 and is funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Operation Catapult
In 1968, the college launched Operation Catapult, a science-based summer camp for rising high school seniors. The eighteen-day program is designed to immerse students into the role of an engineer attempting to solve problems posed by their group's project. It continues today. In 1977, the college held the first summer computer camp in the nation for high school students, Camp Retupmoc ('computer' spelled backwards). This camp continues through the summer of 2009, with Operation Catapult LXXXVI, with intent to continue further. The 1980s also saw "T.I.P.," The Iceberg Project, a summer camp for rising high school seniors lasting a week and a half, where students were given detailed introductions to scientific areas of interest such as game theory, computer programming, or qualitative chemical analysis. The T.I.P. program was short-lived.
Rose-Hulman Ventures
Rose-Hulman Ventures is an engineering educational experience located at Rose-Hulman's South Campus, three miles (5 km) south of the main campus. It serves as a source of internships and job opportunities with startups and established companies of all sizes for Rose students and alumni. From 1999-2009, 749 students have worked as interns for 117 companies. Rose-Hulman Ventures was established in 1999 with a $30 million grant from the Lilly Endowment and received a $24.9 million follow-up grant in 2002.
Student engineering projects
There are many activities and clubs at Rose-Hulman, but there are several engineering projects that frequently take the spotlight. The institute has an Advanced Transportation Initiative that has attracted national attention.
Challenge X and EcoCAR
The team at Rose-Hulman was initially created to compete in the Challenge X competition. ChallengeX was a competition among 17 Universities in the United States and Canada that partner with General Motors and the Department of Energy to re-engineer a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox to improve fuel efficiency and decrease emissions. The team ranges from 30-70 students and has been an integral part of the Universities Mechanical & Electrical Engineering programs. The vehicle uses a power-split hybrid architecture as the team modified their vehicle into a rear wheel drive diesel-electric hybrid using B20 biodiesel fuel. The university allows them to use a designated section of the Rotz Lab on campus as team headquarters. Students receive course credit for this project. Rose-Hulman ChallengeX Team Website
The start of the 2008-2009 school year brought with it a new challenge, EcoCAR. The EcoCAR challenge is a three-year competition that is the latest in the 19-year history of the Department of Energy advanced vehicle competitions. Rose-Hulman competes with 16 other schools throughout the United States and Canada to reengineer a Saturn Vue crossover. Rose-Hulman EcoCAR Team Website
Human-Powered Vehicle Team
The Rose-Hulman Human Powered Vehicle Team constructs a man-powered land vehicle to compete in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Human Powered Vehicle Challenge. The vehicle must be light, highly efficient and powered only by its single occupant. The team at Rose-Hulman is a volunteer engineering club.
The team has competed for five years. The first year, the "Hautian Hazard" gave a strong showing at the sprint and endurance events. However, due to a low design report score, the team only received 7th place at the ASME East Coast competition.
The second year, the "R5" came on strong and took second place overall at the ASME East Coast competition. It was clocked at over 40 mph (64 km/h) in the sprint event. It also had a sustained one-hour endurance speed of 31 mph (50 km/h) at an HPRA event.
The 2008 bike, "Infinity", has performed extremely well at both the East and West Coast ASME competitions. The team achieved first place overall at West Coast by earning a first-place finish in the women's sprint and design report, second place in the men's sprint, and third place in the endurance event. In the men's sprint the vehicle traveled at 45 mph (72 km/h) through a 100-meter time trap. The team also achieved first place overall at the East Coast Competition by earning a first-place finish in the men's sprint, second place in the women's sprint and endurance event, and third place in the design report. Rose-Hulman was the second team ever to win both the East and West Coast ASME competitions in the same year.
The team continued to win in 2009 and 2010, winning both the ASME East and ASME West Human-Powered Vehicle Challenge in each year. The vehicles built were dubbed "Mark IV" and "Ragnarök", respectively. In 2010, the team competed in a new vehicle class, Unrestricted, which required more practicality from the competing vehicles.
In 2011, Rose-Hulman hosted the ASME HPVC East Coast competition.
Engineers Without Borders
The Rose-Hulman Engineers Without Borders (EWB-RHIT) organization implements sustainable engineering solutions to problems faced by impoverished communities in the third world. The chapter is a part of the international Engineers Without Borders (USA) organization, and is open to Rose-Hulman students of all disciplines. Although several technical advisers are affiliated with the program, EWB-RHIT is student-led and each of the chapter's project plans are developed primarily by its student members.
Past projects have included the construction of a community center in Obodan, Ghana; the implementation of latrines and a septic system in Batey Cinco Casas, Dominican Republic; and the construction of a series of latrines in Gomoa Gyaman, Ghana. The chapter is currently planning additional projects within the Gomoa Gyaman community.
Noted alumni
- Tim Cindric 1990 (Mechanical Engineering), president of Penske Racing
- Barzilla W. Clark, 16th Governor of Idaho
- Ernest R. Davidson 1958, National Medal of Science winner
- Lawrence Giacoletto 1938, Transistor pioneer
- Marshall Goldsmith 1970, Noted Management consultant
- John Hostettler 1983, Former U.S. Congressman from Indiana
- Don Lincoln 1986, Particle Physicist
- Chris Mack 1982, Noted Lithography expert
- Art Nehf 1914, Major League Baseball pitcher
- Abe Silverstein 1929, Aeronautical engineer, NASA center director, and Guggenheim Medal winner
- Mat Roy Thompson 1890-1891, Civil Engineer and builder of Scotty's Castle.
- Jim Umpleby 1980, Caterpillar, Inc. CEO as of January 2017.
- Bernard Vonderschmitt 1944, Co-founder of Xilinx
- Robert L. Wilkins 1986, Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
See also
- Association of Independent Technological Universities
References
External links
- Official website
- Official athletics website
- The Rose Thorn
Source of article : Wikipedia
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