• JANUARY 29, 2007 •
• UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE •
ALEX FROMMEYER
President
axfrom01@louisville.edu
Zooming in: Tony Harper - Speed School Student Council
by Ahmed Awadallah
and Adwait Kumar
Council Members
Q: Where did you complete your
High School Education?
A: I attended Our Lady of Provi-
dence in Southern Indiana
Q: What is your major of study at
Speed School?
A: I have a Bachelor’s of Science
in CECS and I am currently pursuing
a master’s degree. I have considered
getting a doctorate, but not until later.
Q: As a Speed School graduate,
what do you believe is the key to
success for students at Speed
School?
A: I believe that hard work and
passion for what you do are the most
essential. If you don’t love what you
are doing, it’s hard to focus on your
studies and schooling.
Q: How long have you been
President of the Student Council at
Speed School?
A: I have been president of the
Speed School Student Council since
March of 2006.
Q: What is your role as the presi-
dent of the Speed School Student
Council?
A: I believe it is my duty “To
further the general welfare of the
Speed School of Engineering.”
Q: What is the Student Council
doing for freshman at Speed School?
A: The main focus right now is to
JARED HATFIELD
Director of Communication
jjhatf02@louisville.edu
provide the administration with stu-
dent input to ensure that the new
initiatives directed towards the in-
coming freshman class help the stu-
dents and do not put an extra burden
on them.
Q: I hear that Speed School Stu-
dent Council (SSSC) is trying to
get some rooms for students at
Kersey Library? Is this true?
A: The plan as of right now is that
students will have access to the
current study area on the first floor.
Within that study area, there will
also be several study rooms, a num-
ber of tables of different sizes, a few
comfortable couch type seats, a
small café area with vending ma-
chines that have sandwiches, and
the usual snacks. There are also
plans to renovate Kersey library to
make it conducive of a better study
environment.
Q: Can you please explain the
Tablet PC requirements that are in
effect for freshman entering Speed
School for the upcoming fall se-
mester?
A: Starting next fall, all freshman
will be required to own a Tablet PC
and will be expected to use one in
class. Students are expected to be
responsible for their PCs and use
them to supplement teacher instruc-
tion. The administration or more
specifically, the academic technol-
ogy committee currently plans for
revamping the power structures in
Kersey library and in the J.B Speed
building so that students can plug in
laptops and use them. Administra-
tion is looking at several different
• SPEED SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING •
• SPEED SCHOOL FRESHMAN COUNCIL •
• EDITION #4 •
MICHELE HARPRING
Vice President
meharp03@louisville.edu
vendors for Tablet PCs and also look- rant to dine?
ing at offering software packages at A: I would have to say Thai Smile.
discounted prices for students. Ad- It’s on Preston highway. It’s the best
ministration is also supposed to have Thai food in the city. Simply awe-
Tablet PCs that students can take out some.
on temporary loan if the student’s PC
is out of function. Q: What is your favorite sports
car?
Q: When is your birthday? What A: I really like the new Ford
is your zodiac sign? Mustangs, but my all time favorite
A: My birthday is March 7th, and car manufacturer would be
my zodiac sign is Pisces. Volkswagen.
Q: What is your favorite all time Q: What do you enjoy doing on
movie? your free time?
A: I like several movies, but right A: I like to socialize and hang out
now I would have to say Monty with my friends, and when I’m not
Python. doing that, I like to read, listen to
music and play video games.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Italian food of course! Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: Computers; I have a computer
Q: What is your favorite restau- graveyard in the basement of my
house.
Assassins to start on
February 5
To sign up....
1) Go to http://www.speedcouncil.org/assassins/ (Note: You
must be registered at speedcouncil.org and logged in)
2) On the second navigation bar, click "Game Stats"
3) Click on the February 5th "Assassins!"
4) Click "Join Game"
Assassins is a simple strategic game that consists of a
group of people and contracts. Yes, it's safe - physical harm is
not part of the play. Instead, the nature of the game is to:
1. Track down your mark and complete a contract
2. More importantly, stay in the game.
 January 29, 2007 news
UPCOMING Zooming in: Dean Wilhelm and Speed School
by Ahmed Awadallah
EVENTS and Adwait Kumar
Council Members
January 30
Q: Where did you complete your
GES Fourm High School, and University educa-
tion?
February 5 A: I attended New Hope High School
in New Hope Alabama. I attended the
Assassins Starts University of Alabama for my Bach-
elors of Science, Masters, and PhD
March 3 degrees.
E-Expo
Q: How long have you been the
Dean of Speed School?
March 12 - 16 A: I was appointed as the acting
Spring Break Dean of Speed School in October of
2003, and I was appointed as the per-
manent Dean of Speed School in May
March 31 of 2004.
E-Ball
Q: What do you believe is the key
to success at Speed School?
A: I have a very simple answer,
hard work. Through experience I can
say that engineering students need to
work hard in order to stay focused and
complete their education at Speed
School.
Q: What are you thoughts about
the GES 101 class that all incoming
freshman have to take?
A: I like the concept of an introduc-
tion to engineering class. Many engi-
neering programs across the country
have adopted the growing trend of
Speed School introducing freshman engineering stu-
dents to engineering concepts early
Freshman Council on in their education, rather than dur-
Awadallah, Ahmed* ing their fourth or sometimes fifth
semesters at engineering schools. This
Bailey, Josh*
introductory class was designed to
Cook, Travis* allow students to learn about and
Eastes, Andy experience the different fields of engi-
neering and gain a better perspective
Frommeyer, Alex for the engineering profession. I un-
Gerstle, Ben derstand that some of the freshman
students in this class might feel like
Gish, Andrew
the class requires a lot of out of class
Grothaus, Caitlin* work for too little of credit, but that’s
Harpring, Michelle* just the way it is. Engineering classes
require a lot of work and the GES class
Hatfield, Jared* will also provide freshman with an
Kim, Sera example of the degree of rigor re-
quired for engineering classes at Speed
Kumar, Adwait*
School. This is the first year that GES
Leonard, Ryan* 101 has been offered to students and
Smith, Brad I really appreciate the students going
through with the class. The class will
Soltys, Mary* provide the administration with lots of
*Voting Members on Council valuable information, which will be
used to refine the class for upcoming
The Freshman Speed Feed is semesters.
compiled by Jared Hatfield.
Suggestion, concerns, or ideas Q: Do you foresee any major
can be sent to changes at Speed School?
jjhatf02@louisville.edu A: We have made several big
changes at Speed School in the past
few years. We recently added the
Bioengineering department and we
are going through strategic planning
as of the moment to look at how we
can change curriculum, programs, and
facilities to improve the quality of
education at Speed School.
Q: What is the most rewarding
part about serving as Dean of Speed
School and what are some of the
challenges you face?
A: Some of the most rewarding
aspects of serving as Dean are talking
to students and alumni and witness-
ing their successes and working with
the faculty, staff, and students in-
volved in the engineering program.
Some of the more challenging aspects
of being the Dean are dealing with the
issues that students, faculty, depart-
ments, and disciplinary issues.
Q: Can you please explain the
Tablet Pc requirements that are in
effect for freshman entering Speed
School for the upcoming fall semes-
ter?
A: As of fall of 2007, incoming
freshman Speed School students will
be required to purchase their own
Tablet PCs. Speed School is not the
first program to make it mandatory for
students to have Laptop PCs. Faculty
and administration feel that Tablet
PCs are absolutely necessary for stu-
dents to keep up with the technology
that is available on the market and to
succeed in any engineering field. The
administration has decided to make
the purchase of the Tablet PCs man-
datory so that students can qualify to
receive financial aid for buying the
laptops. As of the moment, the Univer-
sity is looking at offering students the
choice between two or three different
models of Tablet PCs, several soft-
ware packages at discounted prices.
Q: What are the current plans for
Kersey library?
A: We are planning on building a
Speed Commons area on the first floor
where students can sit at tables and
study, purchase snacks from vending
machines and work on team projects
or activities in a few conference rooms.
There will be a career services center
on the first floor as well where stu-
dents can receive information about
available co-ops, jobs, and interview
for co-ops or jobs. The career services
department will also house a com-
puter station where students can work
on their resumes. At the back of the
first floor, there will be four class-
rooms for GES 101 classes. The sec-
ond floor of Kersey will be assigned to
Freshman Speed Feed
the CECS department. It will house
several offices, classrooms and labo-
ratories for research programs.
Q: What do you believe are some
of the qualities of Speed School that
set the engineering department apart
from the engineering programs at other
schools?
A: Speed School is unique in that
we are the only engineering program
in the country that accredits its de-
grees at the advanced level, and that
it is one of the only four schools in the
country that has a mandatory co-op
program.
Q: What is the importance of the
mandatory co-op program that Speed
School students have to go through?
A: The charter of Speed School
called for a mandatory co-op pro-
gram. I have spoken to alumni about
the program at Speed School and they
have told me that they wouldn’t mind
changes in the curriculum, but the one
thing at Speed School that they ben-
efited the most from was the co-op
program. The co-op program has been
in place for 81 years and there is no
intention of changing it.
Q: As a result of the recent ABET
visit, what is the current plan of ac-
tion?
A: We had a very good ABET visit.
There was actually no criticism of the
program. ABET believes that we have
the program that engineering schools
should seek to achieve.
Q: When is your birthday?
A: My birthday is on July 7 1958.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant
to dine?
A: Equas. I love it.
Q: What is your favorite sports
car?
A: I would have to say my car,
which is a BMW 525.
Q: What do you enjoy doing on
your free time?
A: I enjoy spending time with my
wife and playing golf, in the free time
that I have.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I like taking pictures; photogra-
phy and woodworking are my hob-
bies.
Q: Do you have a few words that
can describe a student’s experience
at Speed School?
A: Rigorous, but worth it!