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She shares a birthday with Neil Armstrong and Guy de Maupassant.
As per a tweet by @rpigm (Mr. Zwack):

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See the email below from Dr. Jackson.  VP for Student Life, Dr. Knowles, is transitioning into his Professor position.  He will step down effective June 30, 2011.  This is of particular interest considering its timing with the beginning of the CLASS Initiative rollout.  Dr. Knowles has largely been the architect of CLASS. He has worked at RPI for 33 years, including as Dean of Students.

You might be interested to read some of the posts in which he has been tagged.

To:    The Rensselaer Community
From:  Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
President
Professor of Physics
Professor of Engineering Sciences
Date:  May 11, 2010
Re:    Announcement of Vice President for Student Life Transition

It is with mixed emotions that I inform you that Eddie Ade Knowles, Vice President for Student Life and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of the Arts, will step down from his vice presidency next year. Effective June 30, 2011, he will transition to a position as Professor of Practice in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. By announcing this transition now, we facilitate preparation for a national search for a Vice President for Student Life and a seamless transition to new leadership. Read more…

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We always like to receive feedback and submissions from you, our great readers, and we got an email from “Mister Spectator” at the beginning of March with this cartoon. We can see some similarities between Louis XVI and a certain university president. (Yes, ours.) I didn’t know that Aretha Franklin was THAT old!

Please note that the comic is licensed under a

Note: The views expressed in the cartoon are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of RPInsider or that of the site.

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Dr. Jackson is a speaker at The Economist’s conference entitled “Innovation: Fresh Thinking for the Ideas Economy” where she and “Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich … will square off against conservative economist and blogger Tyler Cowen and Electronic Frontier Foundation Founder John Perry Barlow.” The conference aims to “to challenge established thinking about what innovation is, where it comes from, and how to make it work.” [prnewswire]

You would think GM week began tomorrow with the way the student government candidates are campaigning. It would seem like this Facebook group, brainchild of Anasha Cummings has kicked campaign season into high gear, taking the dialogues online in an attempt to lay everything on the table. It’s a great idea (and we’re a little jealous we didn’t think of it ourselves!) Hopefully this online forum will allow a bit of the political BS to be avoided. You should definitely check it out if you have any interest in making an informed decision about who to vote for this election, (in addition to taking our endorsement into account of course!)

RPI has announced the commencement speaker for this year, and it is Peter Orszag, one of the nation’s leading economists and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. We’re pretty excited! We’ve heard of this guy before! [AOA] [RPI]

OK Go will be headlining Tulip Fest on May 8th in Albany. The show is free! No word yet on whether or not they’re bringing their treadmills.

Troy is putting together a campaign of its own, one to try and get Google to lay its beautiful fibers of ultra-high speed broadband in Troy. For more information, visit troygle.org or their Facebook group.

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Another Times Union Headline for RPI

The Times Union must have it out for RPI… or at least have their eye on us.  Last week, I reported that RPI made headlines a couple of times.  I figured the TU probably got their fill, but I guessed wrong!

This morning’s Capital Region section of the Times Union features a headline that says “Board posts pay big” with the subtitle “RPI President supplements $1.6 million salary with $1.3 million serving on boards.”

This isn’t really news to RPI students, who have heard this number before.  What is interesting is the following:

In the past, being a board member had been seen as a title rather than an actual job, according to the story.  But the role of corporate directors has grown, and their duties average 225 hours annually.  Directors attend an average of six board meetings a year, as well as other meetings.

RPI issued a statement defending the President’s record and pointing to her accomplishments during her tenure in office.

If Dr. Jackson serves on six boards (Public Service Enterprise Group, NYSE Euronext, Medtronic, FedEx, IBM, and Marathon Oil) at 225 hours apiece, that adds up to 1350 hours per year. A standard workweek (40 hours x 52 weeks) is 2080 hours per year.  That leaves 730 hours, or 18.25 work weeks left for RPI.

Of course, we know that Dr. J works way beyond the typical 9-5, but it’s still food for thought.

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RPI recently submitted the plans for Dr. Jackson’s new house to the city in order to try and gain a zoning exception that would allow the planned 9,000 square foot structure to be built. The current zoning in the area limits structures to 25 ft tall, while the plans have the new presidential home somewhere between 41 and 44 feet tall.

The Zoning Board of Appeals denied the request. “I wonder how RPI, which is known for its engineers, why someone couldn’t present a proposal that fits inside the city limits” ZBA Chairman Jay Vandenburgh said (with what we can only imagine as a bit of snark.) This isn’t the death knell for the house, but there is no word on whether RPI will change the plans, or try some politicking in order to get the zoning variance.

More at the Times Union here.

An earlier TU story drew attention to the discrepancy between the desired height and zoned height cap. Guess who was quoted? This blog.

And as always, if you’d like to join the Facebook group (or become a fan in this case) to show your support for the latest criticism-du-jour of RPI, that can be found here.

photo from here

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1. New chairs in the DCC
2. New classrooms in Ricketts
3. Housing for the sophomores so that upperclassmen aren’t forced off campus
4. More parking for students
5. The ‘86 field renovations
   Read more…

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This news isn’t exactly hot off the presses, but around November 28th or so, someone decided to get crafty and send a message (with a bit of sarcasm) to Dr. Jackson via the steps of the Troy building:

More after the jump.
Read more…

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The email below was just sent to the Rensselaer Community at approximately 4 PM today.  The President will be getting a new home as a result of personal gifts from members of the Board of Trustees to put on more university events.  The funds would not have been available for any other purpose, so no “we could have spent it on” from students, please!

Feel free to post a comment with your thoughts!

To:   The Rensselaer Community
From: William N. Walker, Vice President
Strategic Communications and External Relations
Date: December 7, 2009
Re:   Gift from the Board of Trustees

The following article, describing a commitment made by the Board of
Trustees at its meeting in Troy December 4, has been prepared for the
December 11 issue of Inside Rensselaer. I am sharing it in advance with
the Rensselaer community at the request of Samuel Heffner, Chairman of
the Board of Trustees.

———————————————————————

The members of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees have made a commitment
of their personal resources to construct a new building that will serve
as a space for entertaining visitors to the university, and as a
residence for the president.

Read more…

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According to the email from William Walker below, tickets to the Aretha Franklin show at EMPAC tomorrow (12/4) may be available, if any are not picked up by those who already have theirs reserved.  How do you get them?  Show up at the EMPAC box office at 7:30 PM.  Same deal for Joshua Bell on Saturday night.   Those of you who are going, enjoy this weekend!

To:   The Rensselaer Community
From: William N. Walker, Vice President,
Strategic Communications and External Relations
Date: December 2, 2009
Re:   Celebration Weekend Update

In a few days, the university community will come together for
“Celebration Weekend: A Tribute to the Transformation of Rensselaer.”
The program presents a special opportunity for our community to
highlight our achievements during the first decade of The Rensselaer
Plan.

On December 4 and 5, a series of events will provide members of the
community with opportunities to celebrate the transformation of
Rensselaer through presentations, tours, and interactive sessions with
faculty, students, and administrators, and visiting artists showcasing
breakthroughs in Rensselaer research and learning environments. We also
will recognize the achievements of President Jackson and members of the
Institute community who have worked to implement The Rensselaer Plan.

Read more…

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