Ed Rosenberg (interview); Creator: Rosenberg, Ed; Interviewer(s): Edward S Abdella and Mike Slavin; Interview location: unknown; Running time: min., May 5, 1992

Coverage: 1956-1992
Topics discussed : (tape 1;side A): Background; went into the service shortly after starting at MIT; sent back to MIT to study meteorology and did weather forecasting; served in Texas first, then went overseas; after service went back to MIT and finished degree in meteorology; NY State; worked there after graduating from MIT; didn't like it there; Graduate school; went to teacher's college at Columbia University and got Master's social science and history; also got a Master's in business administration from NYU; Coming to Western; he first started in the history and social science department in fall 1956; it was still Danbury State Teacher's College then; taught five sections; there were five sections of math then w/ a sixth added shortly after that; he began teaching some math courses; as school grew, he had to choose either department and choose math; Tehran; taught there for two years; found time there interesting; Involvement w/ college governance; after he took leave, he didn't get quite as involved when he got back; felt he wasn't helping in being on committees; Atmosphere in 1956; class size was normally about 25; one of his first classes was an economics course; in the spring, over 70 students signed up for economics course; many were first generation going to college; plenty of good students; smaller size meant closer relations; Perception of WestConn during Teacher's College days; anyone interested in education that came, got one; the tuition was cheaper, not as prestigious as other colleges/universities; attitude toward elementary education reflection of downgrading of college; college was still being called the Normal School; Difference in perceptions; does feel there is a difference in how college is perceived; Honors program; Television commercials; something that all students are aware of; Knowledge of programs; in beginning, most students were aware of the program they were in; last few years, found students who were interested or weren't knowledgeable of math (which discouraged him); beginning of math program, found students more passionate about math; Maturity of students; effort students give to their work reflective of this; seems teachers are doing more work than students; Ways on teaching; some lecture and are very good at it; has seen some who choose to assign a book to read and will discuss it; many ways to teach effectively; Perception of the "Good Old Days"; weren't that great unless you came from wealth; Problems on campus; apathy and parking have always been main problems; apathy is seen by majority of the students and faculty; only small group will take leadership roles; Vietnam; wrote a letter of protest; Student rights; there was a group of students pushing for student rights handbook; one night while they were discussing this in faculty senate meeting, students came in asking to close school in memory of Kent State; Student demonstrations; told students if they wanted to, they could but had to be prepared for any and all consequences; those who took any action was limited; Rules of Society; many of them have been shattered; JFK assassination; went to a Harvard; Yale football that day w/ his brother; no mention of it at game and since his brother didn't have a radio in his car, didn't hear about it until he got to the campus (tape 1;side B): Assassination of Martin Luther King; not as strong as Kennedy, but not due to racism; Assassination of Robert Kennedy; was similar reaction to assassination of King; African; Americas on campus; was very small in beginning; wasn't until mid 1960s that significant African; American population came; Afro; American Club established around same time; Racism; there are some problems, but not sure if it is a major concern; has gotten strong w/ increase of minorities; when perception of threat is present, prejudice comes out; Job Security; hard to get job insecurity; hard for teachers to lose jobs because of poor teaching; had meeting where ways in which a teachers could lose a job, when he asked about poor teaching it was laughed at; tenure has both good and bad points; Interaction; was better in beginning because smaller size of campus; there was Quonset Hut where both students and faculty got together; when Student Union built, snack bar was where faculty room is now; Soccer; he started the soccer team; Activities and events; "Skit Night" and "Sing Night"; Clubs; various academic clubs on campus; no fraternities or sororities in beginning; Roberts Ave School; when first came, faculty was paid by state; city later took control over the school; Various majors; brought in many professors; many have not gone through education program now; Office hours; as college expanded, told they had to have five hours for office hours; many students don't take advantage of office hours for various reasons; Class disappointment; had a class once where one; third of the class flunked; Dr. Haas; she was smart, yet shrewd and knew everything that was going on; open door policy; interested in people and viewed faculty as her own family; was president of the university for a long time; Kent State and Dr. Haas; a group of students came in her office demanding school to be closed because of the Kent State shootings; he came and told students she didn't have authority to close the school (even though it was a lie); Dr. Bersi; felt he was a great person to work for; Retirement of Dr. Haas; she made few administrative decisions last year; felt it was wrong to make decisions that affected the person who followed; Dr. Feldman; unfair to say he is getting out because of the economic problems; last several years he has been looking for other positions; does believe people feel more comfortable working for someone who they know is going to stay there; does understand the feeling of distance Feldman has w/ faculty/students; compares Feldman's style of doing business w/ the military procedure (tape 2;side A): Dr. Feldman (cont.); does wish he did business differently, but that was his style; Criticism of Dr. Haas; there was some who felt she knew too much about people; Comparing different people; unfair to judge Feldman to Haas; Retirement; took a year leave of absence to work on a project prior; wanted to take a second, but was denied so he came back; first of two golden handshakes came (Spring 1989) and decided to take it; felt last semester he taught would be his last; misses faculty he worked w/ and the contact; doesn't miss grading and the lesson plans; After retirement; volunteer work at hospital; travels a lot now; Celebration in NY State; after the 1961 class won the Skit Night; he went w/ class and celebrated w/ them; only had two beers, but was in terrible condition next day; Dr. Haas knew about it and pointed it out to him