News and Events - Professor Al Whitney '62 Engineering Lab is
Dedicated Thanks to Gifts From 300 Friends, Colleagues and
Former Students
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Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor Al Whitney '62
|
University of Maine
engineering students can learn the principles behind today’s
electronic and computing devices at a laboratory that will be
named in memory of Professor Al Whitney who died last year after
teaching at the flagship University for nearly 30 years.
Thanks to gifts from 300 friends,
colleagues and former students, the Allison I. Whitney ’62
Electronics Laboratory was dedicated during a
ceremony April 29 in the Arthur Hill
Auditorium in the Engineering Science and Research Building
adjoining Barrows Hall.
The endowment in Professor Whitney’s
name supports the purchase of equipment for the lab where
electrical and computer engineering students focus on the
properties of semiconductors, which are at the heart of devices
such as cell phones, video games and computers. The fund also
may be used to assist other electrical and computer engineering
labs.
Professor Whitney, who retired in the
spring of 2006, passed away on March 10, 2007, after battling
cancer for two years. He is remembered as an exceptional teacher
who was tough but fair, and whose youthful attitude made him a
favorite of students and colleagues alike.
“He was far and away the best teacher
I had – he made engineering relevant and interesting,” says Ryan
Bethel, an electrical engineering alumnus who graduated in 2001
with a bachelor’s degree and in 2007 with a master’s degree.
“He was very personable – you could
talk to him about anything. He was a friend, not just a
professor,” says Al Blais, who earned an electrical engineering
degree in 2001.
Professor Whitney knew that funds were
being raised to support the Electronics Lab and he was “excited
and happy” about the prospect of having the facility bear his
name, says Professor Mohamad Musavi, chair of the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department.
“But, he
was a very humble person and so his ultimate goal was simply to
make sure that the lab where he had spent the majority of his
life with his students was going to have the money to be kept
updated. He knew that students would benefit from
state-of-the-art equipment,” says Professor Musavi, who led the
charge to create the endowment.
A
graduate of UMaine, Professor Whitney earned a bachelor’s degree
in electrical engineering degree in 1962 and a master’s degree
in electrical engineering in 1964. He taught electrical
engineering at the University from 1962 until 1971 when he
became the head of electrical engineering at Tibbett’s
Industries in Camden. He served as president of the company from
1974 to 1986 and then returned to UMaine to continue teaching.
Professor
Whitney had the makings of a great teacher even as a student,
according to Carleton Brown, who was one of his professors at
UMaine and who encouraged him to go into education.
“He was
always searching for a very deep understanding of the material,”
says Professor Brown. “He was excited about the subject and I
knew that would carry over to his teaching and that he would
give that same sense of excitement to his students.”
Later,
the two taught a number of courses together and Professor Brown
was gratified to see that his instincts had been correct.
“He was
such a natural at teaching and interacting with students. He
always tried very hard to give others a depth of understanding,
not just a bunch of facts and descriptions. He always had his
office door open and encouraged students to drop by and chat.
And he was a kid at heart. He wore crazy ties and athletic
shoes. That endeared him to students.”
Because
he had worked in industry, Professor Whitney understood the
“real world picture,” says Maurice Richard ’78, a member of
UMaine’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Visiting Committee.
Richard, who co-founded his own
engineering design company in South Portland, often visited the
campus to recruit employees, and counted on Professor Whitney to
advise him.
“I really got a sense of how valuable
Al was to the engineering program by talking to students who had
him as a professor. He knew how to teach the students to survive
and do well in their engineering careers. Besides teaching them
courses that were very pertinent to the type of work they’d be
doing, he also taught them non-technical skills like the
importance having a strong work ethic and being able to get
along with people.”
UMaine electrical
engineering alumnus Ken Bach, who earned his bachelor’s degree
in 1963 and master’s degree in 1965, also served on UMaine’s
Electrical and Computer Engineering Visiting Committee and often
heard students voice their admiration for Professor Whitney.
“I was impressed with the regard
students held for Al – he obviously was a revered instructor.”
A classmate of Whitney’s, Bach says
the two became fast friends and would meet in the Bear’s Den
almost every day for coffee or lunch. They had a good laugh one
day when they realized that one of their professors, Walter
Creamer, known as a real disciplinarian, had pulled a fast one
on them.
“I thought I had blown my electrical
engineering final something fierce, and a few days later I went
in to Lord Hall to ask the professor what my grade was,” Bach
recalls.
“‘Do you mean to say you have the
nerve to show your face around Lord Hall?’ Dr. Creamer said to
me. I was stunned! But then he opened his grade book carefully
and said, ‘you got a C in the final and a B in the course.’
Later, Al told me the same story word for word. Dr. Creamer had
done the same thing to him.
“We both had a good laugh and Al and I
agreed that Dr. Creamer wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t think
we had what it took to succeed as an engineer.”
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