I support this petition. I was a Humec student and took metal shop as an elective. It gave me a huge amount of respect for \"blue collar\" jobs. It was also undoubtedly my favorite class during my time at Cornell and I remember spending many hours I probably should have spent studying for other courses perfecting my filet welds. My projects from the class are still on my desk today. Do not deprive future students of this opportunity.
I was really surprised to find that I could take a course like Prof. Cook's in college, and at a University that I only thought would be progressive in terms of cutting edge research.
Prof. Cook's Wood Construction class was one of the best I ever took in my time at Cornell, and I learned so much more than just how to use a band saw. He made me work harder to earn my grade (but more importantly to take pride in my work)than many of my other classes. Mr. Cook is the kind of teacher that inspires students, knows his stuff, and is one of those mentors I will remember for the rest of my life. One of the best things about Cornell is that it has managed to create such an incredible gathering of minds working on fascinating projects that fit into no other category than "Any person, .. . any study". That is Cornell's vision, and classes like Prof. Cook's are exactly how the University community truly has opportunities wherever their interest or passion may lie.
I support this petition. Cornell is headed in the wrong direction. Instead of increasing the connection between abstract engineering and scientific work, this is a step to further separate the two. When our world has problems calling for hands-on skills and solutions, whether thats renewable energy systems, sustainable agriculture, loacl/regional manufacturing, etc, hands on wood and metal working, construction, and electrical/plumbing skills are more important than ever! Change your mind Cornell and bring these classes back.
I support this petition. Many of our students in DEA who are interested in developing a deeper haptic understanding of materials and products are encouraged to take these classes. These courses are important part of a complete design education.
I support this petition. It makes me ill to hear that Cornell University wants to terminate these wonderful courses. While new projects are good to see, I think fundamental "hands on" courses such as these should be preserved in the spirit of a fundamentally agriculturally-rooted institution.
I support this petition. Shame on the Admins who are intent on destroying practical (hands on) teaching and learning at Cornell. Remember your founders' vision.
This is far and above one of the most useful courses I have taken at Cornell. To discontinue it now will be a huge disservice to the entire CU student population.
I support this petition. I took Farm Metal Work in 1987 as a balanced addition to purely academic text couses. Mr. Cook displayed incredible integrity and pride in his teaching, dedication and hands-on capabilities. Couses such as his are invaluable for their ablity to demonstrate practical procedure with immediate manual feedback.
I support this petition. As an engineer, it was absolutely invaluable to have gained practical experience working with the materials (wood, metal, plastics) that I spent 5 years in school learning to design with. I believe it is a strong asset to any designer to understand the materials and processes that will be used to execute the designs he lays out.
I support this petition. I had the pleasure of taking all three courses offered by Mr. Cook during my undergraduate years at Cornell. As a mechanical designer, I've found that hands on experience in any kind of fabrication is almost a necessity. If you don't have first hand experience with how things are made, anything you design will be too expensive, time consuming to assemble or difficult to manufacture. The skills I learned in these three courses have made me a better engineer, and I hope for the sake of future Cornellians that the classes are re-instated.
I very much support this petition. Cornell should consider expanding this type of curriculum versus eliminating it! As a real estate developer focused on converting historic buildings into modern, functional spaces, the skills I learned in these classes provided me with the knowledge to communicate much more effectively with my contractors and laborers. Also, for several years prior to becoming a developer, I personally used these skills while rehabbing apartments.
As an experimental neuroscientist, I can personally vouch that the hands on training given in classes like this is invaluable to scientific progress. I see many very bright students coming out of colleges like Cornell who, though they have wonderfully mastered their particular subject matter, struggle through graduate school for lack of being able to work with their hands. A science education is more than just learning about what others have discovered, but should also prepare one to discover new things on their own. And in many fields that means building your own experimental apparatus. I took Tom's course as a post-doctoral scholar to hone my skills in craftsmanship, and it would put future Cornell scientists at a disadvantage if they did not have this same opportunity. This is why the College of Engineering has a student machine shop in Rhodes Hall, why the College of Arts & Sciences has one in Clark, and why CALS should reverse it's decision to do away with its own in Riley-Robb.
As a prior student of Tom Cook's welding class, and a practicing mechanical engineer, I can vouch for the importance of hands-on classes. Having had the experience of learning and actually performing such processes is invaluable experience for any aspiring Engineer. Students need to learn hands on skills and not just theory; canceling these shop classes eliminates a valuable opportunity.
I strongly support this petition. I occasionally do recruiting for my engineering company and the first thing I look for is some hands on learning experience like I had in ABEN 110. By removing these courses you are promoting the development of engineers without any practical knowledge.
I completely support this petition and Tom. I can only hope the picnic table I built in ABEN 132 (Intro to Wood Construction) is still serving others on campus. Remove the course = sitting on the ground.
Although I understand the difficulty of finding space on this campus, I do very much hope that the University will find resources to assist CALS in preserving these courses which so essentially represent Cornell's hands-on ethos and its respect for labour of all kinds. In all my work as a scientist I've found that science and engineering problems are best addressed by those who think not only in terms of models but also in terms of implementations. To demand that students forsake implementation and hew only to theory would be shortchanging them indeed. If the space absolutely must be taken, then perhaps alternate arrangements can be made, e.g. via the wood and metal shop in Risley -- the questions of taking the space and terminating the course may be separable ones.
I support this petition. I use the skills I learned in my introduction to metal fabrication class everyday at Tougas Family Farm. It would be a great loss to the university to not offer these classes to students in the future.
Andre Tougas
Tougas Family Farm
President, Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association
Class of 2003
I work in the Rhodes Hall machine shop which is already overwhelmed with enthusiastic students eager to develop the hands-on skills related to design and fabrication. We had over one hundred students train to use our facilities from one course alone. I can't imagine a "world class" research university without the shops to accommodate the desires of the students to master these skills. Please don't shut this popular facility and shunt these students to our already overwhelmed shop! Fight for the funds to keep it in place!
I support this petition.
I took Tom's course in metal fabrication techniques back when it was an ABEN (Ag & Bioengineering) course. It was probably one of the most practically beneficial courses for me. I have been able to take skills learned in that course and apply them numerous times since graduating with my CU veterinary degree in '99.
The course was not required for my major (Animal Sciences) but I think it helped broaden my education immensely.
These courses are necessary for CALS to really claim to be one of the leading agricultural schools in the world. As many of my friends have stated these courses offer students the chance to learn valuable life skills that can be used throughout their lives. I plan to return to Africa upon graduation and I am 100% certain that knowing how to woodwork and metalwork will come handy very often.
Please do not deprive us of such a great opportunity to learn something valuable.
I support this petition. If there are still students who would like to learn hands on building, fabricating anything it would be very irresponsible of an institution of higher learning to remove such instruction. " I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study" sound familiar.... over the last 25 years it has always been very obvious if an engineer, mechanical or otherwise has had any hands on experience in there field, the depth of there understanding alone should make these courses required not just elective, ask any of the kids in MAE on the formula SAE or baja team see what they have to say about fabrication and welding, I think the results of 9 wins and otherwise top 10 out of 120 teams in the last 22 years speaks for itself... Removing these courses would be a tremendous disservice to this institution..
Regards,
J.Todd Blanchard
