IME Professor Thomas Swartz, a master faculty specialist, has published Building on a Solid Foundation: A History of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Western Michigan University – 1903-2003. The 108-page, hardcover book, which includes a poster featuring a timeline of the last 100 years, was published late last year.
The book begins with an overview of Western’s engineering program in the last century and traces the original program as its emphasis evolved from teacher training to industrial training, its focus changing to meet the industrial needs of two world wars and a rapidly growing technological society.
The engineering program began in 1904 when Western State Normal School opened its doors with courses in the Department of Manual Training, a program to train teachers in the industrial arts.
Swartz devotes chapters to the buildings and facilities that housed the college and its programs, the people who shaped the college, and the programs they developed.
The book concludes with a description of the present programs of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and its move to the new Parkview Campus in late summer 2003.
According to Swartz the book project began in October 2000 with a 15-minute conversation he had with Michael Atkins, the present CEAS dean who was then chair of the IME department. At the time both the WMU Centennial and the construction of the Parkview Campus were in the planning stage.
At that meeting Swartz and Atkins discussed the importance of emeriti faculty and the value of collecting their stories and recollections. In the Author’s Note, Swartz writes, “At the conclusion of our discussion, Dr. Atkins requested that I lead an effort to compile a history of the CEAS at WMU. I gladly accepted his charge.”
In the last three years, Swartz, who presently coordinates and teaches technical communication and report writing courses, spent much of his free time working on the history project. He met with emeriti faculty and administrators and WMU archivists and spent hours researching, organizing, and developing a system for saving pictorial records.
At the same time he was devoting most of his time to the writing project, he also helped coordinate an East Campus trolley restoration senior design project.
Tom Swartz
This is Swartz’s first book, but he has other literary connections. He served three years as managing editor of the literary arts magazine New Blood. He is presently the treasurer of Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry, and he has also served as the group’s president.
Swartz joined the IME program in 1988 as an adjunct faculty. He was hired full time in 1999. His education includes a BA in English at WMU, a MA in English at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, and PhD coursework at the University of Colorado.
Presently Swartz’s family members are all WMU students. His wife, Elizabeth Kerlikowske, a tenured Kellogg Community College faculty member, is completing her PhD in English – Creative Writing. Daughter Rose is pursuing a BA in English and a BFA in photography, and son Nick, in his first year at WMU, hasn’t selected a major.
The book is available for purchase by check or money order for $29.95. For additional information or to order a book, please contact Cathy Smith at 269-276-3253 or cathleen.smith@wmich.edu.
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