Thomas K. Jewell
POSITION
Carl B. Jansen Professor of
Engineering
Director of International Programs
for Engineering
ADDRESS
301B Butterfield Hall
Union College
Schenectady, NY 12308
Phone: (518) 388-6263
FAX: (518)388-6789
E-mail: jewellt@union.edu
PROFESSIONAL AREAS OF INTEREST
Hydraulics, Water Resources, Environmental Engineering, Engineering Economics
AUTHOR OF TWO TEXTS
A Systems Approach to Civil Engineering Planning and Design, Harper and Row, 1986
Computer Applications for Engineers, John Wiley & Sons, 1991.
REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER IN
New York State
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
B.S. 1968 United States Military
Academy, West Point
M.S. 1975 University of
Massachusetts/Amherst (Environmental Engineering)
Ph.D.1980 University of
Massachusetts/Amherst (Civil Engineering)
After the phase-out of Civil Engineering at
Union, I shifted my focus to international programs. I have led mini-terms to
Australia, New Zealand, and Spain; and the 2006 and 2008 terms abroad to
Vietnam. My wife, Gretchen, has been able to accompany me on most of these
trips. I am working on developing new engineering exchange opportunities for
our students with universities in Europe and Mexico. Some of these opportunities
will require language proficiency, so I am encouraging the freshmen engineers
to take the necessary language prerequisites. We are proud of the fact that
about 80% of our engineering graduates actually participate in some type of
international program; including terms abroad, exchanges, mini-terms,
international design projects, or international internships. Our goals are to
increase the percentage actually going abroad to as close to 100% as we can
get, with as many as possible being full term or semester programs, and to
increase the percentage of engineers taking modern languages to further enhance
their competitiveness in the global engineering market place.
In addition to my international program
responsibilities, I have been teaching a variety of courses, including
introduction to engineering, engineering economics, and the first year
preceptorial (Union’s freshman critical reading and writing course). More
recently I have started teaching courses in our environmental studies program,
have helped develop an environmental engineering minor, and am on a committee
discussing the development of an environmental engineering major.
OUTSIDE INTERESTS
Skiing, Boating, Gardening, and Home Maintenance
I have had several boats, and have taught courses for the United States Power Squadron. Among my boats was a 1979 36' Trojan Tri-cabin, which I bought in 1994. Between 1994 and 1999 I took some interesting and fun cruises with it: including the circle route through Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, the Richleau River and Chambly Canals, Lake Champlain, Champlain Canal, and then the Barge Canal back to Schenectady; a trip to Boston via the Hudson River, out Long Island Sound, through the Cape Cod Canal, and up the coast to Boston; and numerous variations and subsets of these trips. Several cruises included Union colleagues Phil Snow, George Williams, and Paul Gremillion.
The summers since 1999 were extremely busy with international programs; trips to see family in Florida, California, Denver, Boston, and D.C.; and family vacations. About the only boat trips were to Lake Champlain and down the Hudson as far as West Point. Therefore, with some regrets, but with promises of better things to come, we finally sold the 36 footer in the summer of 2003.
In the fall of 2005 we bought a year-round house on Peck Lake, which is near Caroga Lake, and just inside the Adirondack Park boundary. Peck Lake is a beautiful, quiet lake; about a mile wide by three miles long. See pictures below. Living on the lake full-time is a dream come true for both Gretchen and me. It is about a one hour trip for me to Union, but fortunately I can telecommute and work at home some days. We have thoroughly enjoyed the summers with family and friends visiting.
The fall 2006 term abroad in Vietnam was an
awesome experience for both Gretchen and me, as well as for the 17 students we
had with us. They were an excellent group of students, and together we traveled
the length and breadth of the country. The people of Vietnam were warm and
friendly, harboring no lingering animosity because of the U.S. conflict. Now is
an ideal time to visit Vietnam before it is marred by too much tourism and
development. Gretchen developed a blog site to record our adventures. Please
visit it at http://www.gretchen52.blogspot.com/.
Because of personnel shortages, I was asked
to reprise my experience in Vietnam by leading the term once more in 2008, this
time with 16 students. Gretchen didn’t go in 08, as our daughter Liz was
getting married in December and Gretchen was busy doing “Mother of the Bride”
things. It was another great group. Trips and excursions were pretty much the
same as in 2006. This time I kept a blog, which you can visit at http://uhwsvietnam2008.blogspot.com.
Ducks in water
Grandson Daniel catching one of his first fish
Granddaughter Allison driving boat
Sunfish
Adirondack Bench
Sunset, Summer
Sunset, Winter
Hummingbird on Deck