RPInsider

RPI has once again made the front page of the Times Union today.  The company will be building a new $91 million headquarters and R&D Facility, according to the Business Review.  The TU estimates the figure at $75 million.  An excerpt from the TU:

The manufacturer of silicone sealants and adhesives said that ocne it completes the center, it will being construction on its $16 million global headquarters on the site, just east of the recently completed GE diagnostic imaging facility.

The two buildings will employ 250 people with a $38 million annual payroll.  125 of those will be new to the Capital Region.

We’re not exactly sure what this means for students, because we don’t know how the financing benefits RPI in the long run, but as far as well can tell, it can only mean good things.

The Institute made TU headlines yesterday with a story about Olympic Sledding Research, which you can read here.

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I guess this is what it looked like when there were still trees in front of it!

It’s pretty rare that the average RPI student ventures over to the J-Building.  To be honest, for a while I thought it was a hospital because of the white border around the door and red sign that says “Incubator Center.”  Being an ignorant freshman, I saw that and though it must be some sort of laboratory.  Now I’ll have even less reason to go in there.  RPI announced that is is changing the mdoel for the Incubator, and removing the current businesses.

According to the Times Union article, Laban Coblentz was quoted as saying:

The question is how coordinated are all of these operations at Rensselaer that have to do with business start-ups.  Our feeling was that we could do better.

The Rensselaer Polytechnic mentioned that Belwo and Intellidemia will both be moving to a location downtown so that they can remain close to the Institute and their student interns.  That brings up an interesting positive benefit to Troy:  perhaps some of the empty building space downtown will finally be utilized for productive purposes.

The TU Article quotes businesspeople who are calling the closure a “travesty,”  but we’re going to reserve judgment.  Mr. Coblentz is probably right to say that the model needs to be revamped if it hasn’t been changed since 1980.

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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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This is an illustrative device to show you how your favorite RPI blog reports on stuff before the other guys.

So it seems that our top-notch uber-serious reporting has beat the local news by just under a week. We reported our first case of H1N1 last Friday, and that the magic number of cases that the local media requires before they swarm campus is 5. There have been 5 reported cases of alleged H1N1 on campus. Our favorite comment by “real” media? Tweeted by @WTEN: “Swine flu has reached the RPI campus….but youll be surprised on how students are laxed about it.” What good is fear and panic? Damn straight RPI.

Times Union story.
WTEN’s story and video here.

photo: flickr user Paul-W

Dr Lawrence’s update to the campus is after the jump:
Read more…

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According to a blogger for the Times Union (I found out through AOA), Tosca and Illium Cafe have both closed due to tax reasons.   They won’t be open “for the foreseeable future.”  RPI, we’ll have to settle for Spillin’ the Beans, the Daily Grind, Flavour Cafe, River Street Cafe, Marmora Cafe, Cafe Deli-licious, Mocha Blend Espresso Bar, Cafe Mezza Luna, Francesca’s, Jazzman’s, and Java++ (I apologize if I forgot any or if any of those have closed, too).

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You just got your bill from the bursar, and now it’s time to figure out loans with your parents, and  you’re probably wondering, “For so much money, is this really worth it?”

Well, the Times Union reported a few days ago that RPI’s median starting salary is $62,500, and the average mid-career salary is $116,000.  And that’s excluding physicans, lawyers, and others with advanced degrees.  So, it looks like you’re going to get a good return on your investment!  That should keep you motivated until you get back to school!

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Just found this one on RPI’s HR site:  A nice piece of spin called the Employee Orientation video, (presumably shown to all new hires.)

We aren’t RPI’s first anonymous student blog: RPI Watch was around for a little bit in ‘05 and ‘06. Their tagline? “Your guaranteed apathy cure (as if you care)” I like our fake tagline better. The blog even gotten written up in the Times Union.  (Note: their tips email account has been deleted; our email bounced back.)

For you Laban fans out there: He has previously MC’ed the IAEA 50th Anniversary Ball in Vienna, Austria. On another note, does anyone know if he is related to the chocolate makers?

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In today’s Times Union, author Scott Waldman wrote an article entitled “RPI dumping teacher honored by students.” While perhaps that is how it could be perceived, there’s more to it. The School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences had been hiring professors on essentially “extra” money. When a professor from HASS left RPI, that person’s salary would be returned to the School and could be used for any number of things. What ended up happening most of the time, is that this extra money was used to hire other professors, such as Julie Guttman. This reallocation of “unused” funds occurred year after year. When RPI entered vacancy management as a result of the economic downturn, that money disappeared. The money went elsewhere.

What is terrible is that this wasn’t realized until it was too late. I think it’s too bad that this oversight occurred, and that a more proactive approach to reviewing faculty positions and hiring was not in place. Julie Guttman will be missed. I think that when the students deem a professor “Person of the Year” that that should be taken as a strong vote of support. I would love to hear that the administration had said “we should try harder to keep Prof. Guttman around because clearly she has had an impact on the students,” and as a result of this extra effort, they could renew her contract.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment.  But the ‘Tute has a few months, maybe they’ll figure out a way.

During this past Pizza with the Cabinet, Dr. Palazzo was asked a question which had to do with this, and what stuck out to me was that he said something to the extent of  not being able to believe that one subject matter hinged so critically upon one professor. He felt confident that other faculty would be able to teach as effectively. While this may be the case, undoubtedly it is where Prof. Guttman went above and beyond that made her stick out in students’ minds. I don’t know if that will be replaced as easily.

And as for the TU article? Perhaps the more appropriate title would have been “RPI fails to find a way to keep valued professor.” But that just doesn’t have the same zing to it…

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