In order to give you my opinion of the two candidates who have met with our campus in the last two weeks, I have decided to write you this letter. Perhaps the first thing I should mention is that you have done perhaps too good a job in finding us excellent men who would do a good job (in my opinion) at WPI. Now comes the hard part, deciding between them. Perhaps I should mention that I served as a member of a search committee, which chose the current pastor at my church at home and that I understand a little bit of the process which you went through. It is tough to find people who are willing to tackle such a challenge and willing to do so at the same time that you are looking. There are many people who could be President of WPI, but few are looking for such a job right now.
Both of the candidates mentioned in some way that the WPI Plan is an important part of the community and that they have no major plans to change this. But they did seem to agree that WPI could do a lot more in marketing the Plan and that doing so could help us get more national recognition. Do we want to be just a "well-kept secret" in New England, or do we want to broaden our pool of talent? Right, and it seems that they all have some ideas on how we could get our message out. They also mentioned that WPI couldn't (and shouldn't) attempt to emulate MIT. Both of these are important to myself and I believe that they are important to many other students here as well.
My opinions between them are very mixed, I feel that they both represent a chance at a bright future, but require a commitment from us as well. Jay Stein mentioned that he felt that working here would be personally gratifying and that he felt he could take "good things that are done here now to the next level."
According to him, our undergraduate program is as good, if not better than any of our competitors, but that it must expand and change to remain vital.
His proposal, naturally, is that WPI should proceed in the direction of biotechnology. This is not a new idea for us and there has always been some flux of student interest towards newer fields. There are less aerospace majors here today than in the recent past, while there are more people with an environmental interest. Jay Stein's feeling is that as research begins to move out of the academic health centers, it will be up for grabs by schools like ours. He is clearly the candidate with the best connections to help us, if that is the direction we choose.
I was impressed by the fact that he said he bypasses the administrative organization at his school to make himself available to students. He feels that his biggest accomplishment is the completion of the student union. He stated that he enjoys "recruiting more than anything else. . .you have to be able to demonstrate that you are civilized." I have no doubt that he would be able to bring to WPI some of the "fine international and national figures [such as from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences] to bring in outside support."
So in the end, I feel that this gentleman, who met Elvis twice in his life "but was totally unimpressed by him," who heard from Joyceln Elders "I am the people's surgeon general and if the President doesn't like that, he can fire me," and who doesn't want to "miss out on the college family," could be a great president.
But there is another direction that WPI can take, which is equally interesting and again, puts us in the forefront. Edward Parrish offers us the opportunity to get our message out and use what we have learned to help other schools. It seems that the NSF has been looking to create curriculum which we already developed years ago. He mentioned that WPI is where they want to go and that we could, perhaps, take an international role in education, not just engineering. He offers us the chance to best get this word out and his vision calls for no more than "a little paint here and better lighting there."
He seems to genuinely like working with students of all ages. His work with some of the kids in the local area, to teach them computer skills is to be commended. But perhaps the fact that he agreed to run workshops for all of the students on campus to teach them to use the computer system is surprising and good news for any student he deals with. He also likes our location and would like to expand the Plan a little bit, to ensure that WPI provides students with a good understanding of politics and culture. He feels that "purely technological institutions do not have an indefinite lifetime." Edward Parrish seems to be able to work well with the community and is very down to earth, yet intuitive.
The first thing that he mentioned was that he has been married almost thirty-two years. He feels that WPI is a compact institution, which generates spirit and trust among the faculty, whereas other institutions tend to have turf battles. The man seems to have a good sense of where WPI might go in the future and it is a direction that many at WPI seem to share. His major concern is for the students who will end up changing careers five to seven times in their lifetime, which calls for a comprehensive education. This sort of foresight and caring is needed.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity that you have offered me and relate to you that I have the utmost confidence in your ability to make the right decision for WPI. The candidates were superb and either one of them would be able to provide us with the leadership and the vision that we will need as we enter the next century.
Sincerely
Brian T. Parker
