Fall2011Edition
The McBride Honors
Program in Public Affairs
RememberingGuyThorntonMcBride,Jr.
byDendySloan
of superhuman mastery
combined
with human
accessibility.
He enriched
our lives by
his own spirit,whichcontinues to live
amongus.
[Adapted from the author’s remarks at Guy T. McBride’s funeral
onMarch25,2011.]
G
uy T. McBride was irst of
allapubliccitizen:aneducator, an engineer, a civic
leaderandsomuchmore.Hislife
exempli iedtheGreekheroicideal
years of Guy’s presidency. The
entire community was saddened
byBecky’spassingin1998.
In years spanning the Second
World War, Guy earned his doctorate in Chemical Engineering
from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. There Guy taught
thermodynamics as a substitute
for the famous W.K. Lewis, who
wasthenawayatOakRidgeworkingonuraniumseparationforthe
atomic bomb program. While living in Cambridge during those
graduate school years, Guy and
Becky developed a warm friendship with a neighbor couple; the
femalememberofthatcouplewas
Cordelia, now Cordelia McBride,
who married Guy in 1999, when
Guywasthetenderageof79.Cordelia was singularly responsible
for the smile on our friend’s face
theselasttwelveyears.
Born
in
Austin,Texas
in 1919, Guy
earned a degree
in
Chemical
Engineering
at the University
of
Texas, which
named him a
distinguishedengineeringgraduate in 1963. Dr. McBride had an illustrious
As a student, career in both industry and acahe met a vi- demia, brie ly interrupting his
vacious Eng- doctoralstudiestodesignre inerlish major from San Antonio, Re- ieswithChevroninSanFrancisco.
bekah Jane Bush, and together After graduation he served as a
they enjoyed ifty-six years of faculty member and then dean of
wedded bliss, with three children students at Rice University from
– Rebekah Ann (deceased), Wil- 1948-1958. He later rose to beliam, and Ellen – as well as ive come vice president and general
grandsons. Becky was the CSM’s manager of Texas Gulf’s phosgracious First Lady during the phate division from 1958 until
1970, the year Guy was named the Two pedagogical innovations mark
twelfth president of the Colorado theMcBridePresidency.The irstwas
SchoolofMines.
the institution of the Engineering
Practice Introductory Course Se
quence (EPICS) to motivate ledgling
engineerstoapplymoresophisticated
toolstodesignproblems.Second,Guy
ledCSMtocreatetheFutureGraduate
“Duringhistenureof Pro ile, a transformational document
value still endures as a pedadistinguishedserviceat whose
gogicalbeacon.
“hero,”atermbanteredaroundfartoo
casuallythesedays,providesanevocative metaphor for the life of Guy
Thornton McBride, Jr., who embodied
somanyGrecianheroicvirtues.
creationoftheprogramin
1978.“
That heroic Constancy is to be enjoyed and cherished, especially in a
father,ahusband,afriend,andparticularlyinacollegepresident.Itisalso
a virtue we celebrate in the McBride
Honors Program–a lasting tribute to
the memory and vision of a remarkable hero who continues, through his
legacy, to transform the lives of studentsattheColoradoSchoolofMines.
One such virtue particularly exempli ies our friend: Constancy. Largely
a forgotten virtue in our world, it
seemsappropriateforacollegePresident-Emerituswhocombinedthebest
characteristics of Atticus Finch, a
CSM,from1970to1984, This pro ile, which emphasized not Presbyterianminister,andanenergetjust technical competence but also ic,approachableintellectual.
undergraduate
civic engagement, critical thinking,
and leadership, contains the basis of
enrollmentnearly
the philosophy of another major prodoubled.“
gram at the school: the honors programinpublicaffairsthattodaybears “Herecognizedthatleading
During his tenure of distinguished hisname.
agoodliferequired
service at CSM, from 1970 to 1984,
PresidentMcBridewastheunseen
undergraduate enrollment nearly
connectingwithabroader
hand behind the creation of the prodoubled. Three major new buildings
gram in 1978. He recognized that
contextthantechnical
were constructed on the campus.
leading a good life required connectNew degree programs were introengineeringandscience
ing with a broader context than techduced, including environmental scinical engineering and science could
couldprovide.“
ence and engineering. Twenty- ive
provide. It meant addressing larger
named professorships were estabhuman problems, ones that were not
lished.Dr.McBrideraisedtheendowansweredinthebackofthebook,such
ment to more than $40 million in his
Constancy is denoted by Guy’s
as the questions encountered in clasirst seven years, in activity that he
fourteen-year presidential tenure,
sic literature and the liberal arts. In
vigorously continued after his retirewhen the average term for most colrecognitionofhisscholarshipandavid
ment.
legepresidentsishalfthat.Constancy
interestinthisarea,in1984theBoard
is denoted by Guy’s continuing for
The McBride years were ones of ofTrusteesnamedtheGuyT.McBride,
yearsaftertheconclusionofhispresilaying a solid foundation for the Jr.HonorsPrograminPublicAffairsas
dency to serve as a valued, positive
schoolandsowingtheseedsthatlater a living heritage to this hero whose
resourceforthecampus–aservicehe
cametofruitioninanumberofareas. lifewecontinuetocelebrate.
providedforoveraquartercenturyas
He pursued change in a quiet yet de- President-Emeritus.
liberate way, without much fanfare. With his gentlemanly intellect, Dr.
It is this Constancy and integrity
McBride earned unparalleled respect
had the long-term foresight to
“PresidentMcBridewasthe which
from other university presidents and
enable the success Mines enjoys tofromtheColoradolegislature.
unseenhandbehindthe day.
YetGuy’slovewasalwayswiththe
undergraduate students. Ted StockmarsaidDr.McBrideonlytookthejob
on the condition that as president, he
could teach an undergraduate class
every semester. The alumni of those
years still talk about the eight o’clock
thermodynamics class they called
“Breakfast with McBride,” which they
learnedbothtofearandappreciate.
After Guy retired in 1984, he and I
embarkedonanadventuretogether–
a reading odyssey on the topic of the
virtuesofindividualheroism.Ourforay into the meaning of the word
2
ThinkOtherwise,andThinkBig:
A Historian Imagines the Future of McBride
byKennethOsgood,Director
I
come to the McBride Honors
Program as a historian, so it
should come as no surprise to
learn that I look to the past for
inspiration when I think about the
futureofMcBride.Afterall,whenthe
program was created in the late
1970s, it was innovative and cutting
edge.
The founders of the program, includingthevisionaryPresidentGuyT.
McBride Jr., recognized that we need
more engineers to assume leadership
roles in our society. They also understood that to accomplish such an important task we need engineers who
are broadly trained and engaged in
the worldat large. The McBride program,withitsnovelformatofpairing
liberal arts faculty with scienti ic and
engineering faculty, was widely and
rightly praised. The graduates went
on to do great things. The program
itselfwaspath-breaking.
wise.”Trainingstudentstothinkotherwise, he said, was the core mission
of a university. Becker got it right.
Developingthehabitof“thinkingotherwise” is the ultimate objective we
holdforourstudents,whethertheybe
engineersorartists;wewantthemto
see the world differently, to question
conventional wisdom, and to challengeassumptions.
When I arrived at CSM several
months ago, I started collecting ideas
fromcolleagues,students,andalumni
aboutnewthingswecandotorejuvenatetheprogram.Istartedbyjotting
ideas in a notebook, then cranking
them into my iPad, then scribbling
them on notecards. Many people, it
seems, are as excited as I am to be
thinking big and thinking otherwise
aboutMcBride.
A careful look at this glorious past “Developingthehabitof‘thinking
reveals a remarkable vision, a vision
otherwise’istheultimateobjective
forinspiringandmotivatingengineers
tobringtheirtechnicalknowledgetoa weholdforourstudents,whether
wideraudience,toaffectpublicpolicy
theybeengineersorartists;we
and to drive social change in positive
wantthemtoseetheworld
directions. When I look at what the
program has been, I realize that, de- differently,toquestionconventional
spite some setbacks in recent years,
wisdom,andtochallenge
McBride can again be a model for
assumptions.“
transformational teaching. But it is
goingtorequirethinkingbig.
RejuvenatingMcBridealsocallsfor
a return to the type of thinking that
inspired the program’s creation:
thinking otherwise. Here, too, I take
my inspiration from the past. Over
sixtyyearsago,thelateandgreathistorian Carl Becker wrote that the job
of the intellectual, and indeed of any
educatedperson,wasto“thinkother-
So I created a bulletin board outside my of ice and put a big sign
across the top reading “Here’s an
idea.” On the board I started pinning
notecards of ideas. When I walk into
the of ice every morning, the irst
thingIdoisstopandtakealookatmy
WallofIdeasforinspiration.
I invite all of you – the friends of
McBride – to join the conversation.
Whatcanwedotothinkbigaboutthe
futureofthismagni icentHonorsProgram? You can send your ideas by
email (kosgood@mines.edu), or you
can remove the insert card from this
newsletter and mail it to me the old
fashionedway,oryoucansimplypick
upthephoneandcall(303.273.3596).
However you send your ideas my
way, I look forward to pinning them
upontheWallofIdeas,andIplanon
looking at that wall every day when I
walk into the McBride house at 1700
Illinois Street. If you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll stop by and
take a look yourself too – and maybe
pin something up there while you’re
atit.
AboutthenewDirector:
A historian of U.S. foreign policy,
Kenneth Osgood has spent the past
ten years teaching and writing about
presidential history, intelligence,
propaganda, and diplomacy. For
more about Ken and his vision for
McBride, see the Oredigger: http://
www.oredigger.net/news/8news/1713-new-mcbride-directorbrings-enthusiasm.html
3
LearningbyDoing...andbyGiving:AJourneytoSouthAfrica
ByKayGodel-GengenbachandKennethOsgood
“When the last inishing touches were
doneasthesunsetonthelastday,itwas
an immensely satisfying feeling that hit
me,”re lectedHeatherHunt,oneofthestudentrepresentativesforherMcBrideclass.
“The school looked desolate and depressing when we arrived and in four days we
had done quite a lot to brighten up the
place.”Fourdaysofhardwork,spentsurmounting all sorts of logistical challenges,
paidoffwhenthechildrenfromtheschool
andthevillagecameouttoplayonthe inishedplayground.“Seeingthemplayingso
happily made me think we had done our
jobwellmorethananythingelse,”Heather
added.“Itwasimmenselyrewarding.”
The trip had other highlights as well.
The journey began at the University of
CapeTown,foundedin1829andtheoldest
university in South Africa. Using a UCT
dormasahomebase,thestudentsattended a lecture on Sul ide mineral oxidation
andviewedtheuniversitylabs.
StudentsandfacultyattheCapeofGoodHope
T
heirbagswerepackedwithmanyofthepredictable necessities for three weeks of travel
abroad,buttheyalsocarriedsomeunusualcargo:fourwheelchairsandanengineeringdesign.
ThisclassofMcBridestudentswasgoingtoSouthAfrica
not just to learn and explore, but also to give. The thirteenMcBridestudentsweregoingtobuildaplayground–
from scratch – for the children of God’s Will Disabled
SchoolinMpumalanga.
The project resulted from a unique collaboration between the McBride Honors Program and the EPICS program.StudentsintheEPICScoursecompetedtodevelop
thedesignforaplaygroundsuitablefordisabledchildren,
using locally available resources and operating within
strict budget constraints. Students in the McBride programhadtoconvertthatdesignintoarealitybyprocuringthesuppliesandconstructingtheplayground–infour
daysorless.
StudentsalsotouredtheDistrict6Museum, a poignant memorial to the Apartheid
regime. In 1966, the government decreed
thattheareaofCapeTownwastobecome“whites-only.”
Over60,000peoplewereforciblyrelocated,andmostof
theirhomeswerebulldozed.AustinGranger,aChemical
Engineering major, was particularly moved to see how
victims of Apartheid re lected on the experience today.
“The man telling us this story [about District 6] had no
hatred toward white people or anyone for that matter.
Hesawhiswholeneighborhoodgetbulldozedtoapileof
rubble,byabunchofwhitepeople,andhewasnotangry
atthem.Hepreachedforgivenessandlookingtowardthe
futureinsteadofthepast.”
Ontheirtravels,theMcBridegroupsawseveraldams
–criticalinfrastructureforoneofthedriestcountriesin
theworld.Amongothers,theysawtheSterkfonteinDam,
a very effective reservoir and the third largest in the
country, holding over two million gallons of water. Students also toured the Cullinan Diamond Mine and the
RoyalBafokengPlatinumMine.ForMcBridestudentrepresentativeOliverDewey,thiswasanenlighteningexperience.Hevaluedtheabilitytogointotheminesanddiscusstheindustrywiththosethatknowitbest:“thecon4
tractors, the workers, and the executives. Visiting the mines themselvesisperhapsthemosteffective
way of determining where the
miningindustrystands,whereitis
headed, and whether or not it is
beingusedtoitsfullpotential.”
TheMcBridestudentsalsovisited the uKhahlamba Drakensberg
mountainrange(aWorldHeritage
Site), Lesotho, Johannesburg, Soweto, Gold Reef City, and other
destinations. They feasted on
chickens that were killed and
plucked right before the eyes, and
they lingered at a penguin colony
at the Cape of Good Hope. The
penguins, as Engineering major
Matthew Mapes observed, “had
sentries that appeared to be patrolling next to the ocean for any
danger.”
As they traveled, the students
confronted the challenges of poor
educational opportunities, HIV/
AIDS,corruptionanddevelopment,
and the chasm between the
wealthy and the poor. They
learned about the legacies of
Apartheid and British colonialism,
as well as about the origins of human species – touring the Sterkfontein Caves, which reveal early
hominids dating back 3.3 millions
years.Theyalsolearnedaboutsustainable development by visiting
Sohms Delta, a winery that puts
forty percent of its pro its back
into the community through education programs, child care, and
healthinitiatives.
Learning by doing and learning
bygiving,theMcBrideclasshadan
experienceofalifetime.Geophysical Engineering major Chelsea
Newgord noted: “I learned a lot
about what the necessities of life
are, and how people from all
acrosstheworldcancometogether and work towards the same
goal. This was an experience that
can only be learned by being
there.” The trip enhanced the
McBride students’ global awareness and added a dimension of
understanding that will help them
become better scientists and engineers.
For photos and more information about the trip, see Oliver
Duey’sblogforMinesMagazineat:
http://minesmagazine.com/?
author=8 ______________________
McBrideShapesPublicPolicyinD.C.
byKennethOsgood
I
fpartofMcBride’smissionisto
inspire scientists and engineers to engage the world of
public policy, we must be doing
somethingright.Thisyearseveral
McBridefacultymembersandCSM
studentswillbeworkinginsidethe
beltway,bringingtheirexpertiseto
thenation’scapitol.
JenniferNekudaMalik(McBride,
’05)willbeaCongressionalFellow
attheAmericanAssociationforthe
Advancement of Science. The fellowship seems hand-crafted for
McBridealums,asitscorepurpose
re lects that of CSM’s honors program:tobringtechnicalandscienti ic backgrounds to the decisionmakingprocessinWashington.
Indeed, Malik’s of icial AAAS
biographycreditstheMcBridepro-
gram with sparking her involvement in public policy. She has a
particular interest in education
and science outreach—an area
well suited for a freelance science
writer who has published dozens
of articles on renewable energy,
sustainability,andothertopics.
Another McBride alum, Katie
Brown, will also be at AAAS as an
Energy, Environment, and Agricultural Fellow. A program manager
specializing in renewable energy
technologies, Brown will be leveraging her industry experience to
support policy development related to renewable technology deploymentoncontaminatedlands.
Two other CSM graduates will
also be AAAS fellows: Maeve Boland, a geologist who received her
Ph.D.fromMinesandwhoteaches
for McBride, and Jennifer Leisch,
another Mines Ph.D. who recently
workedasaclimatechangescience
advisorfortheAgencyforInternationalDevelopment.
The McBride program will also
be represented in the U.S. Department of State, where Mark Eberhart, who has long been involved
with McBride, will be serving as a
JeffersonScienceFellow.
All of these CSM alums will be
bridging the science and policy
worlds – using their professional
experience and technical expertise
to increase the understanding
among policy of icials of complex,
cutting-edge scienti ic issues and
their possible impacts on U.S. foreignanddomesticpolicy.
5
ASummeronCapitolHill
byLexiSalazar,‘13
AlexandriaSalazarwithRep.CharlesA.Gonzalez(D-TX)
andCongressionalHispanicCaucusInstitutePresident&
CEOEstherAguileraattheinterngraduationceremony.
W
When I got
the call that I
had been accepted into
the Congressional Hispanic
CaucusInstitute’sInternship
program, I felt like dancing
around.Astheinterncoordinatorspoke,Iwas illedwith
an overwhelming sense of
excitement. But when I
learned that housing was
provided, I was also apprehensive. I snore, and loudly.
Would my roommate wake
up bleary-eyed and murderous after I interrupted her
sleep?Intheend,Igotlucky;
my fears did not come to
pass.Myroommatewasfantastic and slept through my
evening symphony. Other
things worked out too: I iguredouttheMetro,myboss
was remarkable, and my
workwasengaging.
I was placed in the of ice
ofSenatorMarkUdallwhere
Icompletedtwomonthsasa
congressionalinternonCapitol Hill. Like many interns,
my responsibilities included
answering constituent calls.
InthisrespectIhadaparticularly noteworthy experience the day that President
Obama spoke on the debt
ceiling. When he implored
Americans to call their representatives, all the interns
groaned:itwasgoingtobea
longday.Indeed,thephone
systemwasoverwhelmed.Callsweredropped.Constituents were on hold for hours. I got a good sense of the
pulseofthecountrythatday.
My internship included many more activities, too,
including going to congressional hearings, conducting
congressional research, and summarizing brie ings and
researchinone-pagememosforthelegislativeassistant.
Thankfully McBride honedmy writingand communicationskills.IwassurprisedthatbytheendofmyinternshipIhadwrittenovertwentypagesof(single-spaced)
memosandansweredhundredsofcalls.
AsaninternIwassurprisedtolearnthatmyMcBride
background was highly valued: in a sea of political scienceinterns,IwasvirtuallyaloneinhavingbothSTEM
andpolicyexperience.MyMinesSTEMbackgroundalso
setmeuptoattendseveralremarkableevents.Iwentto
numerouscongressionalbrie ingsonenergyandnatural
resources.Forthesebrie ings,topprofessorsandscientists would present the latest research, often on extremely complex topics, through short presentations
thatlastedjustafewminutes.Eachbrie ingwaslikea
college lecture on steroids! What an education I received.Itwasoneofthebestsummersofmylife.
EditorialNote:TheHispanicHeritageFoundationinvited
Lexitoattendthe irstannualActionableLeadershipSummitinWashington,D.C.SheattendedtheeventinSeptember,withfundingfrombothHFFandtheMcBrideHonors
Program.
“Forthesebrie ings,topprofessorsand
scientistswouldpresentthelatest
research,oftenonextremelycomplex
topics,throughshortpresentationsthat
lastedjustafewminutes.Eachbrie ing
waslikeacollegelectureonsteroids!”
6
McBrideAwardWinners
byPeggyCook
Fromlefttoright:LisaTroung,Outstanding
Senior;HeatherHunt,OutstandingJunior,ChelseaNewgord,Procter&GambleForeignArea
Scholarshiprecipient.
M
cBride students and tility, respect, leadership, and acafaculty were presented demic achievement. A dedicated
with awards for their McBride student representative,
outstanding
achieve- Heather is an Engineering Physics
mentsattheJunior-SeniorReception majorfromGreenwoodVillage,Coloon May 12, 2011. President Bill radoandisalsoinvolvedinTauBeta
Scoggins and LAIS Division Director Pi, the Society of Physics Students,
ElizabethVanWieDaviscongratulat- andistheSpecialEventsChairforthe
ed students on their success as hon- MinesActivitiesCouncil.
orsstudentsintheMcBrideProgram.
ChelseaNewgordwasawardedthe
McBride junior Heather Hunt re- Procter&GambleForeignAreaStudy
ceived the Borasio Outstanding Jun- Scholarship,whichsheusedtotravel
ior award, given on the basis of per- toSouthAfrica.Chelsea,aGeophysisonal and intellectual growth, versa- calEngineeringmajorandamember
of the CSM Jazz Band and Marching
ConcertBand,hasservedasTreasurer for the Society of Student Geophysicists.
The Tom Philipose Outstanding
senior award was presented to Lisa
Truong. Lisa served as a McBride
student representative, Vice President of the CSM Student Body, and
Vice President of the Professional
AsianSocietyofEngineersandScientists.
___________________________________________
So far, my fellow alumni and I
WhatDidMcBride McBridetaughtmemorethanhow
tocommunicatebetter;itgaveme
havecomeupwithanumberofways
the skills to understand the subtle- we can “give back” to McBride by
DoForMe,Really? tiesofhowtechnologyisintertwined getting involved. If you want to be
ByTracyCopp‘99
Y
ears ago, as a new CSM
graduate I found that
whenever someone asked
me what McBride did for
me, I was at a loss for words. My
best answer at that time was that
McBride was a program designed to
teachengineerstobebettercommunicators. Yet I was never very satisiedwiththatanswer.Itseemedinadequate. I knew there was more to
the set of skills I gained from
McBride, but I did not know how to
putitintowords.
Itisonlynow,afteradecadeinthe
workforce, that I can really answer
thatquestion.
with politics. I came to understand
the political environment in which
my technical work operates and to
reallygraspthatmytechnicalwork’s
successis,inmanyways,tiedtopolitics,broadlyde ined.
I believe that the alumni of this
program are an invaluable resource
that should be utilized in order to
bene it the program and it’s students.Withthatinmind,Ihavebeen
helping create a vehicle, a McBride
alumni association, which will allow
the alumni to stay in better contact
withoneanother,tocreatenewconnections among the alumni, and to
alsogivethealumnitheopportunity
to be more directly involved in the
program.
sure you are added to the list, or if
you are interested in being involved
with the McBride alumni group,
pleasecontacteitherme,TracyCopp,
at tlcdancer26@gmail.com, or Ken
Osgood,atkosgood@mines.edu.
Tracy Copp graduated from CSM in
1999andwentontoreceiveanMSin
Materials Science and Engineering
fromCSM.Sheisnowanengineerat
Ball Aerospace, where she is working
on the James Webb Space Telescope
project.Sheisalsoservingasavolunteer moderator of McBride’s
“LeadershipandPower”course.
___________________________________________
7