Messages For Doc NewellDuring the summer of 1977 I was working at Bockman's Standard Station on 1st St. and Lincoln Hwy. (now on 7th and Lincoln Hwy). A man in work clothes had me do some maintenance on his late 60's van. I remember things weren't very busy and we talked as I had his vehicle on the rack. My impression of this man was a friendly town worker. When it was time to pay he handed me his credit card "Dr. Newell NIU". I asked if he was the same Dr. Newell, head of the EET dept. He humbly replied "yes". I never would have guessed. That impression of Doc always remained with me. I took many of Doc's classes and remember him as one of 2 great teachers that impacted my career. I moved to Minneapolis when I graduated in 1979 and just celebrated my 25 year anniversary at the same job in electrical engineering. I always wondered what happened to Doc as I looked through the NIU news letters. I was at the original Doc Day in the late 70's and still appreciate his impact on my education and career.
Alan Kuznar, Technology, 1979
Doc always inspired we "Industry and Technology" electronics guys to lift our ego when it came to graduation time and looking for that first new job. In 1975 when I graduated, engineering accreditation had not yet become a reality for NIU and we faced a stiff challenge being hired in to the "real world" as an "Industry and Technology" engineer want-to-be. Doc would always encourage us by saying we were taught at the same level as the big U of I guys and that the courses and texts were the same. I remember his advice very well when he would say "take a few of your text books with you on the interview and do some show and tell about what you have learned". I have always remembered that advice and have continued to use the show and tell technique with many of the companies I have managed over the years. As a side note, late last year I moved to a new home in the city of Milwaukee and needed to weed out some of my many boxes of books. There still were many of my old electronics books that Doc taught us from. All moldy and pretty stinky at that. I parted with some, but have saved many to always remember that technique that Doc taught me. "Take your books to the interview".
Doug Franklin - Industry and Technology - Electronics - 1975
While I don't have a particular story to share, please let me just say that Doc is truly an exceptional and unique individual. He always managed to bring "reality" to education, which in my experience is a very rare quality in an educator. His lessons were grounded in the practical and he seldom strayed into the obscure, theoretical gobbilty-gook so prevalent in higher education. Doc knew not only the theory, but more importantly, he knew which end of the soldering iron to pick up!
Paul Dean, Technology, 1978
The world of electronics was changing as fast as the political climate back in the late 1960's. But there were a few constants that one could depend on. The first was Doc's ability to effectively communicate the intricacies of electronics - from Norton's equivalent or the impedance of a tuned resonant circuit. It was the latter that almost saved me from utter embarrassment.
We were well into the spring semester and Doc was in the process of filling up the fourth blackboard (yes, in those days they were indeed black). Throughout that semester, Doc was attempting to educate us on quartz crystals and solid state technology at the dawn of the age of CMOS as well as the age of Aquarius (Note - check history books for reference). It seemed like every answer that Doc asked a question about was "QX" - the equation that described the impedance at resonance.
Over the semester, this question must have been asked 50 times and as the semester went on, we started to catch on. It was then that the unimaginable happened as I drifted off to sleep in the classroom as Doc was rounding the corner of the room and attacking the 4th blackboard with even more equations.
He must have caught me napping, because from somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard him say, "Dan, what is the answer?", at least 3 or 4 times. Not knowing what the question was, and being foggy from just waking up, I did the only thing I could do and mumbled "QX", which, for the first time in that semester, was not the right response to the question asked. There was small laughter around the room and I felt the eyes of Doc upon me. I do believe that was the last time I dozed off in his class!
Doc possessed the gift of passing on his knowledge to others. Even though so many years have passed since I sat in his classroom in the I&T building, I still carry the vivid memories of the experience of being in his classroom. He truly taught in ways that caused others to learn - And for that, Doc, I deeply thank you.
Dan Brostoff - Technology, Class of 1972
First day of first semester Circuits class. Everyone is sitting, waiting. The door opens and in walks this white haired man in a plaid shirt and green pants. He walked in, looked at the class, stuck his hand into his pocket and jingled his keys. A classmate sitting next to me leaned over and whispered, "Who is this guy? The janitor?" Doc, turned and before any of us knew what happened, three full chalkboards were covered. He looked back and asked "Any questions? If you don't, then we will just keep on going". Needless to say, several hands shot up!
It is great to hear Doc is being honored. My memories of him as a teacher and counselor are the best.
Congratulations Doc.
Mark Soulje, Technology, 1986
Doc was my advisor and I went to night school for 9 years to get my degree (5 at NIU). Trying to get a degree at night is always a challenge but Doc was always willing to work with me to make it happen.
It always amazed me that even though I might not have seen him in a half a year, he could pick up a conversation like we had just talked 5 minutes ago. Almost everyone I met through Doc was the center of the universe and I never did meet anyone who had a bad word to say about him. I wish him the best and commend him for the recognition he is about to receive.
Don Wilson, P.E., Technology, 1979
Doc Newell,
Thanks for the Boot Camp at NIU. I have been working at Motorola for almost 21 years. I am an electrical staff engineer in the Applied Technology Department. I do a lot of digital and power hardware design now. I used to do software, but I leave that up to the young studs now.
I was always amazed at how you would walk into class with no notes and just fill the blackboard with stuff out of your head. It took half a semester just to learn how to take notes from your lectures. I love the transmission line stuff with the birds and rats.
Thanks again and best wishes,
Christopher A. Jozwiak, Technology (EET), Class of 1984
I've been reading the messages everyone has sent, all of them wonderful, and thought I'd share a bit of my experience with Doc. Being his daughter gives me a unique insight into the man and his life.
Poor Dad got stuck living with three females. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we baffled him at times. Somehow he came to the conclusion that a new purse fixes every girl's problems. I remember an afternoon when he came home early. (Actually, he came home at a decent hour, but that was early for him. He worked a lot!) I was in my teens, home alone, and had the blues. He asked what was wrong, and I told him my boyfriend broke up with me. He got a strange look on his face, like he'd just sipped sour milk or something, and grew quiet. A few moments later he stood and said, "Let's go buy you a purse!" And we did! From that day on, if a purse in a store window caught my eye, I'd have a sob story for Dad. I still have a closet full of purses. Thanks Dad!
I'm not sure we'll make it to the ceremony, we live in Minnesota, but want to publicly say congratulations and I am proud of you. You deserve this.
Love,
Cindy Depre
What I remember most that while at NIU in EET in 1979 was that we fought for some level of respect because we were not yet 'real EE' students. It was frequently a topic of debate, but Dr. Newell and others such as Dr. Vogel and Dr. Ganesan focused on the value of practical experience as well as theory. There were many nights working electrical and water feeds to an old YAG laser to do thick film resistor trimming. I also wrestled with a vacuum pump that always had a leak, but found many interesting used for liquid nitrogen.
When approaching graduation I interviewed at a number of companies and faced questions about where I went to school and what a BS EET meant. I described the time outside of the classroom and in a real world lab without a multi-million dollar budget. It served me well, and I found myself at Intel as a microprocessor design engineer working on the 8051 and 80186.
There I was surrounded by engineers from CMU, MIT, Berkley, and Stanford, and was living in California and not old enough to drink in a bar. I learned then and would tell anyone today - it's not where you go to school but what you do while you were there.
Thank you, Dr. Newell, for teaching the practical aspects of an education that only comes from places like DeKalb.
Dan Caldwell, Technology (EET), 1979
After a terrible freshman year at NIU (below C average), I went to visit Doc as an advisor, and he looked me straight in the eye and said "Jerry, based upon your high school record and ACT scores, there's no reason you shouldn't be excelling at Northern. I suggest you add EE 210, ME 210, etc. to your fall schedule. Jump in headfirst, it's time to sink or swim." Then he gave that typical Doc smile. I went on to receive only one B in my sophomore year, in Chemistry. With my new set of grades, I was able to obtain an internship at Motorola, possibly with recommendation from Doc and/or Ray Mast. So...thanks for the vote of confidence when I needed it most!
Jerry P. Morrow, B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1992
Dear Dr. Newell,
I was thrilled to receive your letter announcing the new scholarship fund! I would be most honored to participate, and $1,500 will be sent today.
When I read your expanded letter on line, I too, had a tear, as I reflected on those you mentioned, Marv, Carl, Jim, Luke and the others. Oh yes, Luke! I chuckled about the "trial by fire" that Luke put us all through! I suspect though, that you were often behind the scenes encouraging him! I remember the "expanded" meetings that were held at the local Sandwich bowling alley. My wife Kathy would ask me why I had to go to the bowling alley after work, when I didn't even bowl! Well, I always explained to her that it was because Doc and Luke held the expanded staff meetings there! I am not sure she bought my explanation. Maybe she did though, as we have been married 34 years.
Jim Wordelman and I carpooled from Naperville. Jim enjoyed the back roads, rather than the straight route#34. We would often be discussing a filter/tcxo project, and Jim would get deep into it. More often than not we would overshoot Sandwich, and have to backtrack from Earlville!
Doc, I couldn't agree more with the testimonials from Promod Vohra and Ramesh Sheth. On a personal note, you probably didn't realize at the time, but you had a profound and lasting impact on me. Life's lessons come from the heart. I owe a lot of my personal and professional success to your life's teaching of fundamentals, values and decency. It's funny, but I still see you over my shoulder in class, encouraging me to never give up. I never have, as I could not let you down. I have gone on to form my own business, "Intelligent Technologies, aka iTECH". We make battery chargers, analyzers and battery packs for vertical market OEMs. Some customers are Motorola, FedEx, and Medtronic. We have 60 employees and are located in San Diego. www.itecheng.com I moved out here in 1980, having worked for Motorola, CTS and Accutronics in the Illinois area, since graduating in 1969 from NIU, and then in 1975 with the MS. A battery equivalent circuit is very similar to a crystal equivalent circuit, so I have been able to keep those fundamentals going! I must admit though, some of the embedded software/hardware my engineers design is just a bit beyond me. But I really stick it to them when it comes time to discuss filter poles, roll off attenuation and biasing!
In closing, I wish you well, and hope we could meet sometime down the trail. If your travels ever take you out here to San Diego, please contact me. Congratulations on the scholarship fund!
Oh, I almost forgot, the answer to question #20 on the test you gave on 2/26/73 graduate networks class, according to the partitioning theorem is "y21+(-y21a*y21b)/(y22a+y11b)." Please don't deduct too much for being 32 years late!
Most sincerely,
Donald A Kutz, Technology, 1969/1975
Doc,
I enjoyed reading your on-line letter. It brought back wonderful memories. The story about NIU's first ball bonder hit home with me. When I was a Grad Assistant and in charge of the Thick Film Microelectronics Lab back in '77-'78, the way we achieved ultrasonic bonds was to gently tap the frame of that ball bonder with a bic pen! Those were the good old days. I also remember attending a reception party at Doc's house with Dr. Robert A. Moog (of the Moog synthesizers)...a truly memorable experience for a Grad Assistant!
Doc, you will always be remembered as a friend, an inspiration and a teacher.
Sincerely,
Dan Kouba, Technology, 1976/1980
There are some people who influence your life in a special way and in the process introduce you to a new you. This is what exactly happened to me when I came in contact with Dr. Newell in the summer of 1986. He made me realize that teaching was my first love and that one needed to work hard to be a good teacher. Doc Newell, through his mentorship and advice, enabled me to find a new career for myself in academia. I have been blessed to have his support. As dean of the college, which Doc helped establish, I see nothing more important than to continue his legacy by serving the college well.
Doc is a treasure which needs to be cherished and I am glad that we have had the good fortune to have him as part of the leadership team.
His generosity and graciousness knows no bounds and he is once again impacting the lives of many students by establishing this endowment. We must also thank Mrs. Newell who, through her charm and affections, keeps our Doc in good shape and excellent spirits.
Promod Vohra, Electrical Engineering, 1988
Dear Doc,
I have a couple of tales to add to your list of stories:
Gary Gresch, Technology, 1976/1977
I can't say that I can add anything significant to what everyone else has written about Doc, but I do want to say that Doc was probably the most influential teacher I had during my college career. His "endless" notes on blackboard after blackboard from memory were intimidating to say the least, but his "artwork" to help us see the point were inspired. I do have a couple memories of stories he related to us regarding power and impedance. One was of his younger days as a ham radio operator with a buddy of his trying to power a large linear amplifier in the trunk of an old clunker car by constructing a homebuilt "PTO" off the driveshaft through the floorboards to drive a generator (or was it an alternator?) mounted in the backseat of the car. I don't recall if the belt or the generator went up in smoke first, because we were all laughing at the mental image of this contraption he had built.
Another one of his stories was of working at a radio station and firing up the transmitter on cold winter mornings and bypassing the timeout circuits to get the thing on the air on time. The results of hitting a fully iced antenna tower with full power were interesting to say the least. Having worked for Motorola, Northrop Defense Systems, BRK Electronics, and television engineering for the last 30 years in Chicago and Des Moines, I have applied his teachings more times than I can count. I hope to stop and say 'hi" in the near future, as I pass by DeKalb on I88 on one of my trips back and forth to Chicago to visit family.
Jon Strom, Technology, 1978
Doc has the amazing attribute of a constantly inquisitive mind, that is always in gear, always thinking. This was once again demonstrated a few years ago, when Doc took his daughter, Cyndia, and I for a drive to a marina to check out the boat he had just acquired. It was late in the afternoon as we were driving in Doc's van, and we were wondering if we would make it there before dark. Rather than just guessing, Doc asked me to estimate the angle of the sun to the horizon, and from that angle, and our approximate lattitude/longitude co-ordinates, he proceeded to formulate a first order approximation of the amount of daylight left, adjusting for the month of the year! And, I know this may be hard to believe, but this was done without the use of a calculator, although undoubtedly he was carrying one. I don't recall all of the details of his formula, but I was truly amazed at Doc's thought process, and his ability to apply science and simple math to the subject at hand.
John Depre, Technology, 1979