Institute Report. January 24, 1986

              THE INSTITUTE REPORT
Volume XIII January 24,1986 Number 4
An occasional publication of the Public Information Office, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia 24450. Tel. (703) 463-6207.
Cormack Field House Dedication Dillard Memorial Festival
Major Walter B. Cormack
In conjunction with VMI Winter Relays on Saturday, Feb. I, ceremonies will be held to name the VMI field house in memory of the late Maj. Walter B. Cormack, who served for 2S years as Keydet track coach and assistant professor of geology.
Ceremonies dedicating the Cormack Field House will be held in the building at 12:15 p.m., followed by a luncheon at which Coach Cormack's widow Ruth will be the honored guest. Later that after­noon, the annual Winter Relays, which Maj. Cormack started 35 years ago, will be held. Over the years he nurtured the annual event into one of the premier collegiate indoor competitions in the southeast.
The father of indoor track in the south, Maj. Cormack was one ofthe most respected coaches in his field. His track and cross country teams won 13 Southern Conference titles and 30 state championships, the most titles any coach in VMI history ever collected. The Virginia Association ofthe U.S. Track and Field Federation gave him its first service award in 1968, and in 1973 the Virginia Intercollegiate Track and Field Coaches Association established an award in his honor.
(Continued on page 2)
Scholarship for Alabama Cadets
A VMI scholarship for outstanding young men from Alabama has been established in the VMI Foundation, Inc., by the parents of a former cadet from Montgomery, Ala., who was killed in a summer automobile accident before his final year at the Institute.
The Michael Gary Martin, '71, Memorial Scholarship Fund has been endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Harold E. Martin, formerly of Montgomery and now residents of Clearwater, Fla. Mr. Martin, 'retired publisher of the Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, is a former member of the VMI Parents Council. The endowment will provide an annual scholarship to VMI for an Alabama student who will be selected on the basis of his high school achievements and alumni recommendations. Need will not be a factor in awarding the memorial
scholarship.
The late Gary Martin, whose name is memorialized in the endow­ment, was a dean's list pre-medical student in the class of 1971. During his cadetship he was recognized for leadership in the Corps ofCadets and in the Army ROTC program and served as president of the cadet flying club and photography editor ofthe VMI yearbook, on which he had worked since entering the Institute. He was 21 when he and a fellow cadet, both on their way to Army RarC summer training, were fatally injured in a car-truck collision on the Washington, D.C., Capital Beltway in June 1970.
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Colonel Herbert N. Dillard. if.
A major art and music festival will be held at VMI on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 30-31, to mark the tenth anniversary ofthe death of Col. Herbert Nash Dillard, Jr., a 1934 Institute graduate and one of its most distinguished and beloved professors.
The Dillard Memorial Festival will include an art display and lec­ture by the noted sculptor Alice Aycock, as well as concerts by the Cleveland Quartet and the Washington Bach Consort, both ranked as world-class musical ensembles. All events will be open to the public at no charge.
Col. Dillard, a native of Rocky Mount, died Jan. 31, 1976, when he suffered a fatal heart attack while lecturing to a Saturday morning English class in Shakespeare. He had been a member of the VMI faculty for 38 years and had served as head ofthe English Department from 1955 to 1963.
The Dillard Festival will begin at 2 p.m. Jan. 30 with the opening in Lejeune Hall of an art exhibit by Miss Aycock, who is noted for her architectural and mechanical fantasies. The works of the 39-year-old native of Harrisburg, Pa., have been displayed in museums and galleries nationwide. She will give an illustrated lecture on her art at
2:30 p.m. Jan. 31 in Lejeune Hall. The first music event will be a concert by the Cleveland Quartet at 8 p.m. Jan. 30 in Jackson Memorial Hall. The program will include Beethoven's Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No.1, Tchaikovsky's Quartet in D Major, Op. II, and Beethoven's Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132. The Cleveland Quartet is ranked among the world's best string quartets and performs widely in this country and abroad. The members play on a rare set ofStradivarius instruments that were owned by Paganini. Their performance on Thursday evening will be followed by an informal presentation at 10 a.m. Jan. 31 in Jackson Memorial Hall. The Dillard Festival will conclude Jan. 31 with a4 p.m. concert by the Washington Bach Consort in a performance of Bach's B Minor Mass. The Consort is comprised of26 instrumentalists and 36 singers who specialize in the works of Bach. The group, which is conducted
by its founder, 1. Reilly Lewis, was the only American ensemble to be invited last year to the International Bach Festival in Leipzig.
Amnesty from Governor Baliles
For the Corps of Cadets, participation in the inaugural parade in Richmond brought an unexpected bonus -amnesty granted by Governor Gerald L. Baliles. Cadets who would not otherwise benefit from the amnesty will receive an additional class weekend. Page 2. The Institute Report. January 24. 1986
ARA food service director John Hattersley checks computer lists.
Computer in the Kitchen
Computers in the kitchen? Well, they're no substitute for the cook
and baker, but at VMI, a new microcomputer system in the mess hall
is paying for itself in its control over food waste.
"The system works," declares VMI's ARA food service director
John Hattersley, who estimates that the waste factor in the mess hall
has already been reduced from the 14-16 percent range to 2-4 percent,
depending upon the variables of the cafeteria-style breakfast and mid­day
meal to the family-style evening meal. In addition, the new
Honeywell 610 system, called FOCUS, permits quality control over
food preparation, control over inventory, and a dramatic savings in
manager man-hours. Calculations that used to take almost 70
manager man-hours a week are now completed in two hours on com­puter.
The system enables management to manage efficiently -and
it adds up to dollars.
The microcomputer system developed by ARA Campus Dining
Services was installed at the VMI mess hall in early October, and for
Hattersley, the first step was to create computer files on daily meals,
as well as entering facts on special meals served outside the mess hall.
Data entered included counts on the numbers fed at each meal, com­plete
meal menus, and recipes for each menu item. Mess hall menus
are on a four-week cycle, and information for meal planning is
available three weeks in advance to allow time for review and
correction when special events like a hop weekend make a difference
in the projected head count.
When the computer spits out its production sheets, there is a sheet
for each mess hall department -a sheet to tell storeroom employees
what ingredients will be needed; another to tell the hot food, salad,
and bakery departments what is to be prepared in what quantity and
exactly how much ofeach ingredient is to be used. Take chili con carne,
for example. 1 f the computer expects 638 servings ofchili to be needed,
it tells the hot food department that they need 114 pounds of kidney
beans, automatically adjusting the amount of every ingredient
according to the number of servings needed. When recipes were
sometimes produced from memory by the kitchen staff, a handful of
salt would vary with each person's interpretation ofthat handful. With
computer, the cooks have an effective means of stabilizing food
quality and a consistent way of batching recipes.
FOCUS also tells Hattersley which foods are popular with cadets,
and this acceptance factor is one of the keys to controlling food waste.
On a routine Friday night, say, when the menu may call for barbecued
Salisbury steak, Hattersley checks his computer for the acceptance
factor and finds that it's 1.4. The computer tells him further that if
1,085 cadets are expected that night, he should prepare 1,519 servings
of the Salisbury steak. Not surprising is the high acceptance factors
on fried chicken and spaghetti with meat sauce. Both rate 1.9, which
means that every cadet can be counted on to eat two full portions. All
of the computer figures are based on a five-week average that is con­tinuously
adjusted, picking up new data daily and dropping that of
the first day of the period.
Inventory of food and supplies is also under closer control, aided by a weekly manual inventory, with the figures fed into the computer. Once FOCUS looks at what is on hand, it prints out what is needed on the basis of menus coming up and tells Hattersley when the orders need to be called in and when delivered. The system is also an efficient yardstick for measuring food costs.
The benefits of FOCUS are conspicuous -and if you ever throw a backyard barbecue and need 5,000 servings ofchili, don't take time to make the calculations on ingredients. Call John Hattersley. His computer already knows that you'll need 400 pounds ofground beef!
VMI Theatre Auditions
The VMI Theatre will hold open auditions for Neil Simon's three­act comedy, The Odd Couple, Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 28-29, from 8 to 10 p.m. in 318 Scott Shipp Hall.
Called "Simon's best, human and humane," the play was the comedy hit of the season when it opened in New York in 1965 and won Simon a Tony Award as best playwright. The play is the story of divorced-broke-and-sloppy bachelor Oscar Madison, who takes in his neat-nervous-and-meticulous friend Felix Ungar, whose wife has thrown him out. Life is never the same again for either man.
In addition to Oscar and Felix, there are four male roles for their weekly poker-playing friends and roles for two women in their early 30s, the two out-for-a-good-time sisters from England who live i~ the same apartment building. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend the auditions. No previous theatre experience is necessary. Rehear­sals will begin Feb. 3 and run Monday through Thursday evenings 8-10 p.m., through April 3, with two weeks off during VMI's spring and Easter furloughs.
The Odd Couple will be presented as a dinner theatre program in April in Lejeune Hall. For further information, call VMI Theatre director Mrs. Joellen Bland at 463-3281 or 463-7103.
Employee Retirements
Year-end retirements brought Christmas-season recognition to three VMI employees who ended a combined 80 years ofservice to the Institute.
Mrs. Constance C. Harris, a post hospital employee, and Donald
S. Hance, Jr., of the buildings and grounds department, retired after 25 years at the Institute. Both are residents of Lexington.
Post policeman Troy L. Wime'r, who in 1960 became the first member ofVMI's police staff, ended 30 years of Institute service with his December retirement. An Army veteran and former military policeman, Wimer came to VMI in 1955, working for five years as a carpenter in the buildings and grounds department before assuming his police duties. He is a resident of the county.
Retirement ceremonies were held in the office of Gen. Sam S. Walker, who presented VMI chairs to each of the retirees.
Cormack Field House Dedication
(Continued/rom page 1)
The field house has been resurfaced and the building remodeled since basketball moved into Cameron Hall in 1981. The 200-meter banked track is one of the nation's finest, and the Winter Relays will attract top athletes from all over the south and east.
Featured speaker for the brief ceremony will be George H. "Skip" Roberts, Jr., VMI class of 1968, a former track star and now a Harrisonburg attorney. Other former trackmen who will be on hand will come from California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, with several expected from Texas. Their willingness to travel such distances indicates the degree of respect Maj. Cormack earned from his trackmen.
Maj. Cormack, a native of South Carolina, joined the Institute
faculty in 1949, serving until illness forced his retirement in 1974. He
died in 1976. Biggs Lectures on Military History
Nine visiting scholars will inaugurate this semester a series of public lectures endowed by the John Biggs, '30, Cincinnati Chair in Military History. The lectures will be presented in conjunction with the Military Leadership and Command course offered by the Depart­ment ofHistory and Politics. Visiting scholars will contribute not only through their lectures but in follow-up classroom discussions.
Dr. Martin Blumenson, retired Army War College lecturer and editor of the papers of Gen. George S. Patton, will present the introductory Biggs Lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Lejeune Hall. His topic will be "Leadership and the Art of Command."
Other lectures in the series include: Feb. 10, "Frederick the Great: Education ofa General," by Professor Jay Luvaas ofthe Army War College; Feb. 25 (Cincinnati Lecture), "George Washington Recon­sidered," by Professor John Shy, University of Michigan; Feb. 26, "Napoleon as a Military Commander," by Professor David Chandler, Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst; Mar. 3, "March and Pershing: Two Outstanding World War I Leaders," Professor Edward M. Coff­man, University of Wisconsin; Mar. 17, "Eisenhower: The General and the President," by lecturer Brig. Gen. Douglas Kinnard; Mar. 24, "William Leahy and the American Military Tradition," Col. Paul L. Miles, US. Military Academy; Apr. 14, "Massena as Commander: Marshal of France," Professor Donald D. Horward, Florida State University; and Apr. 28, "George C. Marshall: a Study in Character," by President Josiah Bunting, Ill, of Hampden-Sydney College.
The John Biggs, '30, Cincinnati Chair and the Biggs Lecture Series are the gift of the E. Paul and Helen Buck Waggoner Foundation in memory of John Biggs, of Vernon, Texas, a 1930 VMI graduate who became a noted Texas rancher. He was the 1930 recipient of VMI's Society of the Cincinnati Medal. He died in 1975.
Chessie Trail Rehabilitation
The Flood of '85 spared no one. Among the victims in Rockbridge County is the Chessie Nature Trail, a 7 -mile span of unspoiled flatland enjoyed by hikers and joggers. No vehicles are allowed on the trail, which winds along the Maury River from Lexington to Buena Vista.
Ironically, it was the Flood of '69 (remember Hurricane Camille?) which planted the seed for this scenic trail. Damage to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway spur in that flood was so extensive that the railroad decided not to rebuild. The right-of-way was granted to the Nature Conservancy for preservation.
In 1979, the Conservancy transferred the property to the VMI Foundation, Inc., to develop a trail for recreational use by pedestrians, and a community-wide project was begun. The Foundation received a $40,000 grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment, then raised $41,000 to match that grant. Countless numbers of hours of labor from cadets, civic clubs, garden clubs, and other area organiza­tions allowed the $81,000 to go a long way, and the entire project was completed in November 1981.
The recent floods washed out several hundred yards of roadbeds and dug five-foot gullies along the middle of the trail in several areas. Long stretches are piled high with fallen trees, smashed houses, and other debris. In one spot, a 75-long culvert was dislodged, the approaches to several footbridges were washed away, and the main bridge across the Maury river was severely damaged.
Estimates for rehabilitation costs range from 84 to 90 thousand dollars, since much ofthe trail is in worse condition than it was when first constructed. The VMI Foundation, just as it did in 1979., is requesting a $40,000 grant from the Virginia Environmental Endow­ment and will match it in funds and in-kind services and materials. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $6,500 toward the project.
Since the City of Lexington completed its Woods Creek Trail,
which connects to the Chessie Trail to make a 9-mile stretch, the
facilities have been used by thousands of area residents as well as
students from VMI and Washington and Lee. School and scout
groups, bird watchers, joggers, fishermen, hikers, nature lovers, and,
yes, even cross country skiers use the facility daily, but in its current
condition, most of it is impassable.
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Page .'I, The Inslilute Report, Januar} 24, 1986
Solak Named Acting Commandant
Marine Corps Col. Thomas J. Solak, professor of naval science, has been named acting commandant of cadets during the temporary absence this semester of Col. John W. Cummings.
Col. Cummings, a US. Army infantry officer and 1962 VMI graduate, is on temporaryArmy assignment to pre-command courses in preparation for his next military assignment as an Army brigade commander. He has been commandant of cadets and professor of military science at VMI since July 1984.
Col. Solak, who was also assigned to VM I in July 1984, is com­mander of the Naval ROTC program at the Institute. A 1960 graduate of the US. Naval Academy and a 25-year Marine veteran, he also serves as chairman ofthe VMI Publications Board, faculty represen­tative to the General Committee, and coach of the rugby team. He has also taught a course in the electrical engineering department.
Notes
*Col. Henry S. Bausum, professor of history, is theeditorofa new book just off the presses of the American Historical Association (AHA). Teaching History Today is a collection of selected articles from a column ofthe same title appearing in the monthly publication, AHA Perspective, during the ten-year period 1974-84. The column, for which Col. Bausum was co-editor from 1974 to 1981, was an outgrowth of two history conferences held at VMl in the spring of 1974 to discuss mounting concern over introductory history. The suc­cessful conferences were planned and conducted by Col. Bausum. Publication of the book was sponsored by the AHA Teaching Division.
*
Dr. Charles A. Bodie, assistant professor ofhistory, was a speaker at a session of the annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Independent Schools, which met in December at the Collegiate Schools in Richmond. His topic was research opportunities for secondary students working in the area of domestic change during World War II.
*
Assistant psychology professors Dr. Alvin Y. Wang and Maj. R. Stephen RiCharde have published their paper entitled "Generalized metacognitive training in children" in Resources in Education.
*
Lt. Col. Ronald G. McManus, director of post services, has been named chairman of the 1986 audit committee of the National Association ofCollege Auxiliary Services, which has its headquarters in Staunton. He has been a committee member since 1981.
*
Planetarium programs in December played to standing-room-only audiences as interest in Halley's comet brought record-breaking attendance to the programs conducted by Lt. Col. David DuPuy, associate professor of astronomy. For the month of January, when the comet is as bright as it is going to be before going around the sun, planetarium programs are canceled to allow opportunities for observing the comet before its setting time at 8 p.m.
Two more showings remain in January at the Klink Observatory: Saturday, Jan. 25, and Tuesday, Jan. 28, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Because the VMI telescope is outside, participants should dress warmly. Individuals with personal telescopes should bring them along.
*
Lt. Roy R. Creasey, Jr., instructor in civil engineering, was a guest on the WSET-TV talk show, Community Watch, in December. The program, which was on the air for six days, featured the Lynchburg Presbyterian Home where Creasey lived for nine years.
*
Lt. Col. Edwin L. Dooley, Jr., special assistant to the superinten­dent, will present a paper at the Sixteenth Annual Consortium on Revolutionary Europe. The paper, which is entitled "Claude Crozet and the Diffusion ofFrench Scientific Education to America," is the result of research which Col. Dooley has done in France at the Ecole Polytechnique and in this country over the past fifteen years. The con­ference will be held in late February at Florida State University. Page 4, The InsUtute Report, January 31, 1986
Calendar of Events: February 1986
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY I:
8 a.m. VM I Winter Relays, field events starting 8a.m., track lOa.m.; 11:30
a.m. break; resuming 2 p.m. Cormack Field House.
8:30 a.m. Winter meeting, VMI Board of Visitors, Smith Hall.
12:15 p.m. Dedication ceremonies, Cormack Field House.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2: 3 p.m. Kiwanis Club travelogue, "Bewitching Bavaria," Lejeune Hall, admission charge.
MONDAY. FEBRUARY 3:
7:30
p.m. Basketball, VMl vs. East Tennessee State University, Cameron.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4: Noon Library Research Progress Report, speaker to be announced, Preston Library rare book room.
7:30
p.m. Wrestling, VMI vs. Univ. ofTennessee/Challanooga, Cocke Hall.
7:30
p.m. Planetarium program; observatory open if night is clear.
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 5:
7:30 p.m. NROTC lecture by Brig. Gen. Michael K. Sheridan, USMC, direc­tor, Marine Corps Plans Division, Jackson Memorial Hall.
FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 7:
4 p.m. Parade.
9 p.m. Midwinter Hop, formal, Video Dance Show, Cocke Hall.
SATURDAY, J:iEBRUARY 8:
I p.m.
Swimming, VMI, Shepherd College, and Sweet Briar College,
Cocke Hall annex.
8p.m.
Concert, Rockbridge Symphony and Chorus, J. M. Hall.
9p.m.
Midwinter Hop, infonnal, music byCruise-o-Matics, Cocke Hall.
MONDAY. f'EBRUARY 10:
7:30 p.m. Biggs Lecture in Military History, "Frederick the Great: Educa­tion ofa General," Professor Jay Luvaas ofthe Army War College, Lejeune Hall.
TUESDAY, f'EBRUARY II: 7 p.m. English Society movie, "Dr. Strangelove," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12:
7:30 p.m. Basketball, VMI vs. Bluefield College, Cameron Hall.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13:
6:30 p.m. CPB movie, "Pale Rider," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
f'RIDAY, FEBRUARY 14:
4:25 p.m. Parade.
5 p.m. Faculty Club social hour, Moody Hall.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15:
7:30 p.m. Wrestling, VMI vs. Campbell University, Cocke Hall.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16: 3 p.m. Rockbridge Concert-Theatre Series, Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensem­ble, Lexington High School.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17:
6:30 p.m. CPB movie, "Body Double," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 18:
10 a.m. BLOODMOBILE, open to 4 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19:
10 a.m. BLOODMOBILE, open to 4 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
7:30 p.m. Basketball. VMI vs. Virginia Tech, Cameron Hall.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21:
All day Swimming. VMI at Tri-State meet. W&L.
4 p.m. Parade.
6:30 p.m. Southern Conference indoor track meet, Cormack Field House.
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SATURDAY, f'EBRUARY 22:
All day Swimming, VMI at Tri-State meet. W&L.
Keydet Club Board ofGovernors meeting and scholarship dinner. 8 a.m. Southeast Invitational Rifle Tournament. Kilbourne Hall. 10 a.m. Southern Conference indoor track meet, Cormack Field House.
7:30 p.m. Basketball, VMI vs. Appalachian State University. Cameron Hall.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23:
All day Swimming, VMI at Tri-State meet, W&L.
3 p.m. Kiwanis Club travelogue, "Peruvian Adventure," Lejeune Hall,
admission charge.
6:30 p.m. CPB movie, "SI. Elmo's Fire," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune.
MONDAY, f'EBRUARY 24:
7:30
p.m. Basketball, VMI vs. Davidson, Cameron Hall.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25:
7:30
p.m. Cincinnati Lecture, "George Washington Reconsidered," Professor John Shy of the University of Michigan, Lejeune Hall.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26: 7 p.m. English Society movie, "Breaking Away," second showing 9 p.m., Lejeune Hall.
7:30
p.m. Biggs Lecture in Military History, "Napoleon as a Military Com­mander," Professor David Chandler of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Nichols Engineering Hall.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28: 4 p.m. Parade. Southern Conference Basketball Tournament at Asheville, N.C.
NROfC Lecture Series Begins
The department of naval science will inaugurate its new General Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., '17, Guest Lecture Program with two visiting speakers in coming weeks.
Opening the series will be Brig. Gen. Frank 1. Breth, Director of Intelligence, U.S. Marine Corps, whose address will be Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Jackson Memorial Hall. He will discuss Soviet Union capabilities and strategies for war. Gen. Breth, who has been in his current position since June 1985, is a 1959 graduate of VMI.
The second program in the series will be presented Wednesday, Feb. 5, by Brig. Gen. Michael K. Sheridan, Director of the Marine Corps Plans Division. The 29-year Marine veteran, who is a 1956 graduate of Florida State University, is expected to discuss U.S. naval wartime defense strategy. His talk will be at 7:30 p.m. in J.M. Hall.
Racquetball Court Hours
Monday
Thursday
1:40
3:40
PE classes
11:00-12:00
PE classes
3:40­8:
00
12:00-3:30
3:30 ­5:30
Intramurals
5:30 ­8:00
Thesday
11:00-12:00
PE classes
Friday
1:00­3:
30
11:00 -12:00
PE classes
3:30­5:
30
Intramurals
12:40 ­1:
40
PE classes
5:30 ­8:
00
1:40 ­8:
00
Saturday
Wednesday
1:00­6:
00
10:00 -11:00
PE classes
12:40 ­1:40
PE classes
Sunday
1:40 ­8:
00
2:00­6:
00
Cadets have priority from 1-6 p. m. Monday through Friday. Courts will be open to the public after 6 p.m.
Give Blood! VMI Bloodmobile, February 18-19