Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 10/16/00 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Samuel St. John The new Dean of Engineering, Norbert Ackerman.

Professor Norbert Ackerman of the Civil Engineering department took over as the Dean of the School of Engineering, a position he will hold for one year.

Prof. Ackerman brings a wealth of experience and knowledge with him, as well as humor and candor that is refreshing to see in a place of administration.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, PA, Dean Ackerman went to Carnegie Mellon University for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Civil Engineering.

While in his sophomore year at college, Ackerman was married, and by the time he finished his education, the couple had four children.

From Carnegie Mellon, Dean Ackerman went to Northwestern University and Colorado State University before coming to Clarkson as Chair of the Civil Engineering department in 1975.

Professor Ackerman has been an asset to the University for years with innovative teaching ideas and a congenial attitude. Presently the Dean is working on a new curriculum for engineering classes across the curriculum. His new idea is “Hands-On Homework.”

At Clarkson, it has been proven that students do better when they learn by experience. Continuing on the premise, Dean Ackerman wants to see labs brought to all of the Engineering Science classes. But the typical three hour lab section is too long and too complicated to provide equiptment for; for reasons which include lack of funds, staff, equipment and time.

Consider a class with 80 students, each having to do a lab on a piece of equipment, which Clarkson owns only two of. The ideal situation would be to have two students per piece of equipment, and limiting the number of people per section. This means that twenty, three-hour sections per week would be needed in addition to the two hours of lecture time. This approach is not terribly realistic, but the department will seek alernative ways to meet its goals.

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