RPInsider

Here’s some not-so-breaking news.  It turns out that in next year’s meal plans (in which the amount of bonus bucks increases as the number of meals decreases), the rising amount of bonus bucks doesn’t make up for the lesser meals.  In other words, if you want the flexibility of bonus bucks, you’ll have to pay a little more for a meal. But remember — these prices go up for every meal you miss.

The most expensive per meal is the block plan (which is being offered only to those in the Greek Commons or off-campus), which has an average cost of $10.50.  To compare, you can get a burger and a beer at Brown’s for $11.50.

If for some reason our math is wrong or we missed something about these plans, please let us know.  Thanks to anonymous for letting us know that we forgot a whole semester.

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It was a heartbreaker.  Last night, the RPI Engineers Men’s Hockey Team was narrowly defeated (3-2) by Brown University in the third game of a best-of-three series.  RPI came back from a 3-0 deficit at the start of the third period, and were able to generate several goal opportunities in the last minutes before the end of the game.  With the crowd on their feet, the Engineers gave it their all and impressed their fans, but they were unable to find the back of the net.

RPInsider would like to congratulate the hockey team for a fantastic season.  They came within 1 game of finishing in fourth place(10-9-3 ECAC), which is a major improvement from last year’s 11th place (6-15-1 ECAC).  The Engineers outscored their opponents slightly, 112-111 (if I did the math right).

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Stanley Gee '71 in the Times Union this morning.

Stanley Gee graduated from RPI in 1971with a Civil Engineering Degree.  Naturally, he went on to work for the Federal Highway Administration for 25 years, and the Big Dig in Boston.  After retiring, he was brought to work as the Deputy Commissioner for the New York State Department of Transportation in 2007.  When Commissioner Glynn retired in April 2008, Gee became the Acting Commissioner.

Now he’s the one who has to deal with trying to run the DOT in the face of huge budget cutbacks.

We thought it would be nice to post this to honor one of our esteemed alumni, and to give you an idea of what’s ahead after graduation.  Maybe.

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There’s no much going on, because it’s time to head home for Spring Break!  If you happen to be staying, check out these two things!

Of course, the Hockey Team begins their playoff season on Friday Night against Brown in the first of a best-of-three series. 7 PM in the Field House.  They will play again at 7 on Saturday, and at 7 on Sunday if necessary.

SOLOS^2 at EMPAC: ” a diverse array of performers will guide listeners through aural space, using strings, brass, percussion, amplification, and voices to fully explore the potentials of timbre and musical directionality.”  Tell us that doesn’t sound cool!!  Friday at 8 PM.  RPI Student tickets are $5.

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This weekend marks the first weekend of post-season play for the ECAC Hockey League.  RPI finished in fifth place (but they get the sixth seed since Saint Lawrence wins the tiebreaker), so the team will face 11th place Brown for a best-of-three series on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Since Brown defeated the Engineers in January, it is record is 1-5-3.  This means hopes are high for this weekend.

If RPI defeats Brown, it will advance to the next weekend.  For that weekend, if Saint Lawrence wins over Clarkson, RPI would face Union in what would surely be an exciting game.  If Saint Lawrence loses, then RPI would face Colgate.  If RPI advances beyond that round, they will play at the Times Union Center on March 19-20.

Those with season tickets should head to the Field House today to get your tickets for the weekend.  Beginning tomorrow, seats will be opened up to the general public.  Tickets are the usual $6 for students.  Even though it’s spring break, consider sticking around for at least the Friday night game to show your spirit!

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National Science Foundation chairman Arden Bement Jr., President Shirley Ann Jackson, chairman of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees Samuel Heffner Jr. ’56

We have heard a few sources say that Samuel Heffner ‘56, Chariman of the Board of Trustees, will be retiring sometime this year.  Heffner, who has been Chairman since before Dr. Jackson joined the Institute (and, we assume, must have helped to name her as president) has been instrumental in assisting Jackson with fulfilling the Rensselaer Plan.

We’re still waiting on Strategic Communications and External Relations to confirm this; we’ll keep you posted.

No idea yet about how this will affect the way things run at the Institute, since none of us has been around for such a changing of the guard, but it’ll be interesting to see how things play out!

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This email is from last week, but notable nonetheless.  The President’s new home will be built in the footprint of her current home in order to bypass zoning restrictions.  It will be 9600 square feet, and work will begin in the spring.  This news comes after the first house was denied, and the issue faces a fair amount of criticism from other news outlets, including the Times Union.

To:   The Rensselaer Community
From: Claude Rounds, Vice President for Administration
Date: February 25, 2010
Re:   President’s House Project

I write to provide you with an update on the plans for a new Rensselaer
president’s house. You will recall from an article in Inside Rensselaer
in December that our Board of Trustees has made generous personal
donations to fund the full cost of the new building.

Read more…

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It's gonna be one for the books.

Mark your calendars everyone. On April 30th, one of the world’s most famous ex-engineering students will be gracing our campus. Gregg Gillis, better known as the mash-up artist Girl Talk will be up in the brand-spankin’ new ECAV with his laptop all set to go. Gillis’s last album, Feed the Animals was number four on Time Magazine’s Top 10 Albums of 2008 and is very popular as party and dance music.

Girl Talk shows tend to get a bit sweaty, but that doesn’t stop the party. A lesser known tech school newspaper had this to say about a previous performance. Last year, Gillis visited our neighbors to the north at Skidmore College too.

Tickets go on sale March 3rd for $10. [facebook]

http://www.myspace.com/girltalk
Thanks for the heads up Michael!

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Puckman will be the center of attention this weekend.

There are some great events coming up this weekend.  Don’t miss Freakout!  Let us know if we missed anything!

Friday February 19

The Mahler family hosts a Shabbat Dinner with RPI-Sage Hillel at 5:30 in Union 3606.[FB]

Women’s basketball faces William Smith College at 6 PM in ECAV.  Free. [RPIAthletics]

Hockey is big this weekend.  See the Qunnipiac game at 7 PM in the Houston Field House. [RPIAthletics]

UPAC is showing The Road at 7, 9:30 and midnight for $2.50 in the DCC. [UPAC]

Men’s Basketball faces Hobart College in ECAV at 8.  Free.[RPIAthletics]

The Players present an Evening of Performance, featuring “Artist Descending a Staircase”, “Winter Fruit”, and “Wanda’s Visit.”  8 PM.  [FB] [Players]

Taylor Williamson will be performing some stand-up comedy in the McNeil Room at 8 PM for free! [FB]

Read more…

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We wanted to catch up a little on what the housing lottery situation looks like, so we asked just a few questions of Residence Life.  Tom Tarantelli responded, and the full text is below.

RPInsider: We were curious about whether Blitman Commons filled after the last lottery.  Since there was so much talk about students not wanting to live there and it was important to the amount of upper class students who might have been pushed off campus, we were hoping to find out if the building filled up.  It looked like there were some pretty high lottery numbers.  Can you tell us anything?

Tom Tarantelli: There are some rooms available that will be added to the upper class room assignment process.  In order to participate in the lottery for Blitman, students completed an application that asked them to outline their programming interests.  Overwhelmingly those students were excited about the opportunity to live in Blitman and to participate in CLASS programming.

Also, how do you think the process as a whole is going so far?

We all think the process is going well.  We realize that some students did not get the rooms they wanted because of high lottery numbers.  That has always been the case and we want students to understand that we will do what we can to accommodate them.  We still have the upper class lottery and room assignment to complete.  That will be completed on February 28^th.

Do you expect the remaining upper class halls to fill?

We do.  Because this has been a change we have tried to communicate each step as clearly as possible and in ways that students and parents had access to the information needed to participate in the various housing lotteries.  We anticipate that students who wants to live on campus will be accommodated.

Is there anything else you’d like the students to know?

Just that there are a lot of details involved in ramping up the lotteries and the room selection process.  We are working on those details and appreciate the many questions we are getting.  An upper class room selection information session is being held at 8 pm, Wednesday (tomorrow) in RU 3606.  Since the process is “compressed” into a tight time frame we appreciate any effort to help students get the information needed so that they can participate.

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