Engineering dean hosts M

A catered buffet and intellectual conversation offered a change of pace from dining hall food for the Management and Technology freshmen who dined at Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington's house Saturday. "One of my goals is for Engineering to be psychologically like a small college," said Farrington, who has invited M&T; freshmen, along with Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty members, to his home in Swarthmore, Pa., for the past several years. Farrington initially tried to bring first-year students and faculty together in 1993 with "Operation Chili," a program where individual professors hosted students at their houses for dinner and conversation. Although many students said they enjoyed the program, Farrington said it was discontinued due to difficulties in busing students to the homes of the various hosting professors. The idea for an M&T-specific; dinner came from fifth-year M&T; student Shane Lipson in 1994. Due to the interdisciplinary program's rigid curriculum, its students are not able to take a wide variety of courses and therefore have difficulties choosing a major, Lipson said. The dinner provides students with the chance to learn about the various Engineering fields directly from department heads. "The students have an increased opportunity to make educated choices about their major," Lipson said. Enjoying one of the last warm evenings of the year, clusters of students and faculty gathered in Farrington's wooded backyard Saturday night, discussing topics ranging from recent engineering breakthroughs to campus life. "It gives us a chance to talk to students in ways I can't at school," Systems Engineering Undergraduate Chairperson Nelson Dorny said. "I get to ask them where they're from." Dorny has followed in Farrington's footsteps by hosting an annual dinner at his home for Systems Engineering students. M&T; Director William Hamilton said Farrington's dinner gave students a sense of cohesion because, in addition to speaking to faculty, they were able to spend time with their peers. "This is one of the only times that all of the M&Ts; are together," freshman Jed Fonner said. The dinner was sponsored by the Management and Technology Club, an organization that provides social, extracurricular and academic opportunities to M&T; students. Given the success of the evening, Farrington said he would like to increase student and faculty interaction throughout the University's undergraduate programs. "I'd like to do this for every freshman," Farrington said. "If we start doing this, others will do it as well."