New Chair
Changes, Changes, Changes

This has been a year of great changes for the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Dr. Sam Greene taught his last class in December 2001 after 35 years at SSU. During this time he taught nearly every course in physics and astronomy, from the popular Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Interstellar Travel to Quantum Physics and an occasional special topics course in General Relativity.

It was the first year at SSU for Professors Enrique Izaguirre and Brock Weiss. Read more about them elsewhere in these pages.

It was also the first year of Dr. Joe Tenn’s term as chair. With Dr. Cominsky on leave and Dr. Dunning half retired, Dr. Tenn had to wear several hats. He continued as department advisor, chaired the search committee which considered 139 applicants before choosing Dr. Bryant Hichwa for the new faculty position, and also chaired the RTP committee, which evaluates nontenured faculty.

It’s been an exhausting year,” he reports. “I am looking forward to next year, when Brock Weiss will be advisor, Lynn Cominsky will head the RTP committee, and we won’t need a search committee. I really appreciate all the work Duncan Poland did for the Department during his years as chair.”

“In many ways the hardest thing for me will be giving up the advising position after so many years. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work closely with students and to help them to achieve their goals, not just meeting degree requirements, but also finding suitable jobs or graduate schools afterward.”

The new department chair also found time to present a talk on the Bruce Medalists at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington and a poster, titled “What Can You Do with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics,” at the spring meeting of the northern and southern California chapters of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Dr. Tenn intends to continue as liaison with the Department’s graduates. He is especially proud that so many have kept in touch. More than one-half of all SSU physics graduates are now listed on the website, and he hopes to get permission to add even more.