Good Article Selection
I’m sure it’s tough for the staff to select various articles for IIT Magazine; the selections continue to be very good. Not only do I look forward to receiving the magazine and reading the articles, but I also look forward to the regular departments such as Alumni News. The cover letter by Andrea Berry (CS ’84) was great! My wife and I have spent over 45 years in Wisconsin, but I, like Andrea, grew up on Chicago’s South Side. I can still name the theaters at 63rd and Halsted, where I was every Saturday morning. It’s hard to believe that there is now a Starbucks at 35th and State.
Ronald A. Dickman
BE ’67
Bronzeville Revisited
I lived on campus starting in September 1954 with one semester in Farr Hall and then in the Phi Kappa Sigma house until I graduated. When I came to IIT the majority of buildings on the campus were older civilian-owned and -occupied buildings inhabited by people from the neighborhood. When taking night school classes we were warned to be careful, but I did not hear of any problems. By June 1958 IIT, the City of Chicago, [and other organizations] had removed [most] of the buildings that were not part of IIT. I read your magazine with interest. I visited the campus in the late 1960s to see the ‘new’ Phi Kappa Sigma house. I owe IIT for helping me to get a degree and a commission in the Navy. Through the Navy I later obtained a M.S. in EE at the Naval Postgraduate School. I retired from the Navy in June 1989 in Alameda, Calif., and took a job as engineering manager with Calex Manufacturing. I retired from the company in 2001; in 2006 we moved to Columbia, S.C.
Charles W. Soules
EE ’58
The Map Is Where It’s At
The summer 2015 issue article by Chelsea Kalberloh Jackson “Mapping History” along with the map was very interesting and brought back memories of my father’s recollections as a contractor building many of the buildings on campus. From 1939 to 1950 Willard P. Carr of Dahl-Stedman Company handled the management of construction of buildings at Illinois Institute of Technology for [Ludwig] Mies van der Rohe, who was associated with architects Holabird & Root. A list of all the buildings on campus with their architects and contractors would bring back lots of memories for your alumni and show the progression of the campus.
James R. Carr
Editor’s Note: The sender is an engineer and Illinois native who now resides in Michigan.
“Mapping History” was wonderful. I recalled many memories; some I wished I’d seen. The summer 2015 issue was great. Keep up the good work.
Bob Kamm
M.S. PHYS ’67
Editor’s Note: Boris A. Stern (CHEM ’50) forwarded IIT Magazine questions raised by Col. Richard K. Johnson USAF (Ret.) regarding gravitational-force limits on aircraft from the article “Soaring Above” in the summer 2015 issue. The staff thanks David R. Williams, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for addressing Johnson’s inquiries.