GEAR Article_-_New_House_-Scholarship

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After nearly 50 years on "Anchor Hill",
the
Beta Chapter Corporate Board has begun a
Capital Fund Drive to build a new house on
the Michigan Tech campus. Anchor Hill is
about five miles away which detracts from
class and campus participation. After the wear
and tear of 600 brothers, the house needs
more and more maintenance and repair. The
kitchen renovation done this summer was the
latest in a series of remodels done over the
years to keep the house livable.
Plans to move the chapter back to an oncampus environment were triggered by a
pledge made by Hall
of Fame Laureate
Jim Klungness,Beta1949.BrotherKlungness
believesthat Beta Chapter could be more
successfulnearerthe campus,and backedhis
beliefwith a sizeablepledgeto achievethat
purpose.Michigan Tech is playing a very
Jeff Kellogg, and Dick Dunnebacke.The
committeethen selectedJim Klungnessas
Honorary Chairman,and Greg Sesselmann
as Honorary Vice Chairman. Then, it was
time to get to work to raise the targeted
supportive role by offering a properry
exchangewhereby MTU would swap an
undevelopedcampus site for the current
Anchor Hill property (adjacentto the MTU
Golf Course).A two-track study conducted
alsoshowedthat newconstruction
wasmore
costeffectivethan an extensiveremodelof the
existing property. With that conclusion,
the Beta Chapter Board (including student
members)voted unanimouslyto establisha
$2.2million neededto get the housedesigned
and built to return Beta to campuswhere
it existedfor the first 60+ yearsof its historv.
Building Task Force Committeeand conduct
a Capital Fund Drive for constructionof a
new houseon campus.Named to chair was
DavePost,with Vice ChairmanJim Cot6, and
Secretary Ken Pollard. Completing the
committee are Jim Whalen, Jon Ricker,
!7hile early solicitation collected pledges
of about 25'/" of the goal, the Drive was
put on hold when the US economyfaltered.
Hopefully, the current economicturnaround
will support the reinstated drive. All
alumni should seriouslyconsiderthis oncein-a-century request. Contact Jim Cote
([email protected]
or 520/531-8159)to
request the Capital Fund Brochure. The
PledgeForm enclosedwill provide opportunities for alumni to be immortalizedby name
and pin number on rhe new facility.
Michigan Techand Theta Tou Fraternity - BetaChapter
jamesD. and Mcniee A. CofsiEndawedSeholnrship
MTU establishedthis
this scholarship to
honor the successful
Iifelong journey of
BrotherJimCot6asa
1962 BSEEgraduate
of MichiganTech,a memberandpast-Regent
of
Theta Tau Fraternity Beta Chapter,and a retired Professional
Engineer.
for a summerco-opposirion
Jim wasselected
with the GMC Truck and Coach Division of
GeneralMotors during his freshmanyear at
Tech.This begana careerwith GeneralMotors
that endureduntil his retirementsome42years
later.As Jim likesto say,"whateverthe largest
truck GM had in production,that'swhat I was
'S7hen
working on."
he becamepart of GM's
executiveranksin 1979,he wasworking asthe
Chief Engineer of the Astro/Titan models
FALL2OO9
which were aluminum COE highway tracrors.
including as Board Chairman when he retired.
He and his staff enjoyed driving 18 wheelers
It is important to remember what came before
from Michigan to Arizona each summer for
in order to make a successfulpath for the fu-
hot weather testing. It was during this assign-
ture, and the recipient of the Cot6 scholarship
ment that he won the Counterpoise Award,
will honor this principle. The scholarship will
presented annually by the Society of Plastics
provide financial supporr for full-time students
Engineers, for the best new product design in
who are majoring in Engineering,earn a mini-
plastic in the United States.
mum GPA of 2.5, and are members of Theta
Tau - Beta Chapter. It will be awarded at the
Jim enjoyed a lot of international experience at
GM, including a brief assignment in Brazil and
demic year to a student who achievesthe high-
subordinates in England, Mexico, Japan,
China, and Indonesia. He was very active in the
preceding fall semester.In the event that two or
beginning of the spring semester of each acaest GPA on a minimum of 12 credits for the
Society of Automotive Engineers, authoring
more students earn the same GPA for that se-
numerous papers and chairing and moderating
meste! the scholarship will be awarded to the
several conference sessions.
one with the greatest financial need.
He represented GM on the Truck Manufacturers of America trade group in \Tashingon,
DC, serving as a board officer for severalyears,