Probably the most noted UniHi suicie was iris Chang, noted Historian
She was the daughter of Dr SJ Chang
[ Harvard PhD Physics, advisor was Physics Nobelist Dr Julian Schwinger -- QED "Quantum Electro Dynamics ]
My family & Chang family were friends, as part of the close-knit Chinese-American professorial community at U of I
I can STILL remember my Mom..SCREAMING, as she received the News-Gazette -- article on Iris Chang suicide! I was visiting Urbana/IL at the time. My Mom arranged a follow-up meeting with
Joan Hicks (ex-wife of Dr Bruce Hicks, close family friend, whose son attended UniHi)
[ Caltech PhD Physics, advisor was 2-time Nobelist (Chemistry & Peace) Dr Linus Pauling co-founder of CFD "Computational Fluid Dynamics" at U of I. My Dad (Aerospace Eng Prof, later Dept Head) joined this group, & took it over when Dr Hicks moved to
College of Education (CAI "Computer Assisted Instruction")
My Dad considered Dr Hicks as a mentor, which influenced him to gravitate towards Caltech alumni
( bringing in famed Caltech PhD Physics, Dr Stephen Wolfram, to U of I -- triple Math/Physics/CS appointment )
& collaboration
( leading a U of I (College of Engineering) collaboration with Caltech/NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory )
The fact that their son Bruce went to UniHi, influenced my parents to send me to UniHi ]
She (Joan Hicks) told me
"There were a LOT of suicides amongst 60's UniHi students"
which implies that there was *talk* (networking amongst parents, friends, etc) about this uncomfortable issue..
"People talk (share information), WORD TRAVELS FAST"
This blog simply gathers what *I* have found in my "un-intentional History project of 70's UniHi"
sharing with other UniHi alumni. Get EACH CLASS talking, summarizing:
data-points, conclusions, suggestions for UniHi for IMPROVEMENT
"Sucess is 90% FAILURE"
-- Soichiro Honda
I attended my 20th UniHi '75 Reunion, where some class members ruefully mentioned SUICIDES!
Shawn Holliday mentioned the suicide of Chas xxx, UniHi '98 (Form 1). He was a U of I Physics major, who was on drugs. Ended his life, even made a
call for help to Mary Beberman UniHi '76
[ told to me by Mary himself ]
See post on Drug Abuse -- RAMPANT among UniHi students (70's classes). UniHi '75 especially, even other classes (early 70's)
"I did a LOT of heroine that night.."
-- leading Solar Energy figure (Santa Monica/CA), UniHi '76
"I did LOTS of drugs"
-- UniHi '72 (?), told at mini-UniHi reunion Dec/2014 (Christine Szabo's house)
^^^ OMG WTF. Recreational drug-use (small amounts) are excusable, but the ABOVE is "WAY OVER THE TOP"!!
My Take:
I put the blame SQUARELY on UniHi upper-management -- Principal, Vice-principal, Teachers, Counselor Office, etc
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN??
Especially, with apparently RAMPANT drug use in certain classes. I DO remember a SHADY character (obviously NOT a UniHi student, likely a drug dealer) who was openly at the PLATO terminal room. He tried to pressure me to give him a PLATO sign-on, whereupon
Eric Gullerud UniHi '76
was waving his hands at me *frantically* saying
No Way..NO WAY!!
I DO remember '74 - '75 Principal Warren Royer (English Dept), walking into this VERY room late (6'ish) to CLOSE THE WINDOWS. How is it possible, a drug-dealer could be roaming the VERY SAME ROOM, the UniHi principal walked-in to close it up?
BACKGROUND:
UniHi was this *elite* school, which catered to
motivated/serious & bright students
who (along w/parents) wanted to part of this Noble Cause:
Curriculum Development Laboratory HS
[ pushing-the-limits toward Education 2.0 -- The Next Generation ]
UniHi was noted for being a STEM school, particularly Mathematics & Technology.
Dr Max Beberman (UICSM "U of Illinois Curriculum on Secondary Mathematics") co-led the (controversial) New Math movement, with Stanford Univ, at UniHI.
The PLATO computer (co-founded by Dr Don Bitzer/EE & Dr Gene Slottow/EE) was a pioneer in
CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction)
which is known today as MOOC (Massively Open Online Courseware). E.g., Coursera (Stanford origins), EdX (joint MIT & Harvard MOOC), etc
UniHi students made notable contributions (as system programmers) to PLATO:
Kim Mast UniHi '72
David Woolley UniHi '72
Dave Frankel UniHi '76
Other students were end-users (like myself), who developed Application Programs.
No comments:
Post a Comment