Where There is a Will: 20. Golden Semesters - Part I (Continued)

 Summer 1979:  Course Work  Over - Going on Full  Research and Full Pay

I had completed the required coursework as some of my courses at Northwestern University were counted for this purpose.  I was on full research assistantship.

The research was on Optimal  Resource Allocation for Highway Maintenance.  Dr. Sinha was the Principal Investigator and he had won grants to study the major highways of the six mid-western states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  Dr. Ravindran was one of my advisors.  The project was to apply Goal Programming and Dr. Ravindran’s specialty was in that area.  The data were available and my duty was to formulate the Goal Programming Model and apply it to the data and come up with recommendations to optimally carry out the maintenance.

The first US Summer for my family!  Coming out of the winter with hardly 10 hours of daytime, the 14 hour daytime of Summer will  be really felt!  Children had a good time spending time outside as long as there was sunlight!  That is also the time for garage sales, picnics and visiting places.

With no pressure to complete and no interference by the advisor (Dr. Sinha) it was a very peaceful and smooth sailing for me and my family.

In Front of the Civil Engineering Building

Purdue University

Fall 1979:  First Real Job in the US:  University of Wisconsin - Platteville

Though the life at West Lafayette was good, I was getting impatient about

Continuing as a student, especially with children growing.  A graduating student by name C. J. Chang, had been getting interviewed for job offers and he mentioned about the opening of a faculty position in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.  At that  time the University of Wiconsin-Platteville (UW-P) was an undergraduate only university (a.k.a teaching university as against research university)

Let me digress a bit to talk about the naming convention here.  University of Wisconsin is a system of Wisconsin State Universities; this means these are funded by the State as against privately funded universities.  In some states  - Wisconsin is one of them - there are state university campuses at several towns.  These are independent of each other.  The name of the town will always have to be added at the end of the name of the university to make it clear which campus is being referred to.

Platteville, Wisconsin is a small  mining town located in the southwest corner of the state.  C. J. Chang was offered the position but he did not want to take it.  I called the University, got an appointment for interview, and visited them.  I drove to Platteville with family.  It is about 300 miles from West Lafayette.  

The interview was simple.  They were recruiting faculty for 6 positions as apparently that many had just quit.  At the end of the interview the Dean of Engineering (Dean Busby) made the offer.  I was offered Assistant Professor position at $18000 per year.  I asked if the University will also sponsor me to get my green card.  The Dean was very pleasant and agreed to do that.

Return to West Lafayette After the Job Offer:

Let me digress a bit and take the opportunity to talk about my first encounter with traffic police here.

As I had gotten my driving license recently and did not have enough idea about driving on the freeways, I decided to return using side roads avoiding freeways.  In those days the practice was to become a member of the Automobile Association of America (AAA) and use their services.  They will give detailed route plan for long distance travel.  I had one such strip map to guide me.  I was driving back and it was past midnight when I was stopped by a police!  I pulled over and waited for the officer to come.  

“Sir, let me see your driving license.  Where are you going?”
“I am going to West Lafayette, Indiana”

“May I suggest you something?  When you drive through strange towns, pay attention to the traffic signs.  You did not stop at the stop sign”

“I did stop!”

“Sir, you are not going to West Lafayette this way.  You need to have turned right at the stop sign - not the stop sign where you stopped; the stop sign that you blew!”

He gave my license back. I thanked him and retraced my path to get the right turn and reach home safely.

Starting Work at UW-P:

Pretty soon afterward we packed our stuff and loaded them in a U-Haul trailer that I had rented and attached to my car and we set off to UW-P

Misfortune Strikes Again - or Was it a Signal to me?

Because of my inexperience and lack of proper guidance, I set out to go to Platteville using side roads.  Not too far from home, I missed a bend in the road and went straight in a farm track and hit a big post.  Car was fully damaged.  Fortunately none of us got hurt.  A local resident saw that and she informed the police.  A police officer came and he noted the damage to the post (a tall wooden post - perhaps telephone or some utility) and wrote a ticket with penalty.  With the help of a local resident - a total stranger - I called Padmanabhan.  He came and took us to his home at the HilltopApartments at West Lafayette.

He took us to Platteville in his car with the U-Haul trailer attached.  Looking back, I probably would have been wiser to have my Platteville project cancelled taking this as a bad omen!

Working at UW-P:

At that time Platteville had a population of around 9000.  It was just a university town.  It had a radio station of its own and also a municipal airport for general aviation. 

I found a duplex at 920 North Washington Street at Platteville for rent.  My work was at Ottensman Hall of Engineering at the UW-P, which was 5 minutes drive from our residence.  Children could continue their education at Westview Elementary School about a quarter mile to the west of our home so  they can walk to their school.  (See the map)

Short Stint at Platteville

I came to know that they hired 6 new faculty members at UW-P along with me!  There were 3 of us from India, one from Ethiopia and two locals.  I was assigned to teach Engineering Graphics and two Transportation courses.  Engineering Graphics was no problem as there was a good textbook and a workbook which the students completed.  The emphasis is more on understanding the concepts than on drafting skills. Transportation courses were somewhat challenging as these are not what I learnt (if any) during my undergraduate studies.  Also, there was a textbook already prescribed.  Fortunately, my predecessor, who either quit or was sent home for want of good evaluation by students, had left his assignment sets and tests.  I was able to manage.  

Got my first brand new car!

As my old car was rendered useless, it was bought for $60 (sixty only dollars) by the owner of the towing company where the car had been towed to after the accident.  So, I needed a car.  There were two Indians and one Bangla Desi in the faculty besides us the new recruits.  Bheru Lal Sukhwal in the Geography department was a longtime resident.  He took me to a car dealer in Dubuque, Iowa, the nearest big city.  I bought a Chevy Citation.  This was a 6 cylinder car, 1980 model already available in late 1979.  I think it cost $5000.  As I am a rich man now with a full time faculty position (!) I was able to get a loan and drive that car home.  I applied for a license tag (number plate) from Madison,the capital city of Wisconsin and nearest big city within Wisconsin State.

Chevy Citation - 1980

I even bought a new bed and mattress and other items - some new and some from a local resident who was moving out and selling some furniture. The winter set in and it was much harsher than West Lafayette.  One day the front door got snow deposited and frozen as ice.  We could not open the door from inside our house and were practically got house arrested!  Fortunately the landlord lived across the street and we had his phone number.  I had to call him and he came to remove the ice and open the door!

It looked like I had made it and found a permanent job with a future.  In those days and especially in such a small town as Platteville, people from  South Asia would all join in to have parties and other festivities.  The chairman of Mechanical Engineering was one Dr. Kenneth Klasson.  He lived near our house.  He had 4 children and his wife Margaret was a housewife.  Veda and she became friends.  Sowmya was not finding the school atmosphere much to  her liking, especially because of the many shifts and losing friends.  On the whole, life was stress free and peaceful, with apparently a settled future.

After a month or so I got the license plates in the mail from Madison.  It was two plates with two different registration numbers!  I called the licensing department to tell this and I was asked to return them as it was evidently a mistake! 

Toward the end of the semester the students give their evaluation of the teachers in each subject.  As a first time teacher here without the benefit of undergraduate education under this system, I perhaps did not get a good rating.  One student had written “Stop the world and let Muthu go!”  So, the new Chairman of the Civil Engineering  Department, Dr. Richard Wetzel said the Dean wanted to meet me.  They both told me that they are looking for a replacement to my position and may perhaps keep me for the rest of the academic year but not beyond that.  The understanding at the time of interview was that I am what is referred to as ABD (All but Dissertation) to get my Ph.D., which could be done during summer months.  Now suddenly they found that it will  not work, and they are looking for one with a Ph.D. They were also not going to sponsor my green card as I may not be retained beyond that year.

I got on  the phone  and related these developments to Dr. Sinha at Purdue.  He said if that is the case I should not be wasting my time at UW-P; better to return to Purdue by next semester and continue my research on the same topic that I was on before leaving to Platteville.

Heading Back to Purdue! 

So I started selling stuff including my car as I will not be able to keep paying the car payments and insurance.  I put an ad in the local radio station for the household stuff.  A local resident bought my car by assuming the payments remaining.  The license plates had not arrived yet!

Thus, I had to sell the first and only brand new car I  ever bought before I got the license plates!

The other two Indians recruited along with me  found a better job and were leaving Platteville.  One of them was passing through West Lafayette where he had a friend.  I was able to send several boxes of our stuff through him.  A local resident offered to take us to west Lafayette in his car for the cost of gasoline as he had his daughter living there and he is going to see her.  

We reached West Lafayette.  As we had yet to be allotted an apartment, we needed to stay somewhere.  In building 220 there was an American couple with 2 little children.  We had already become friends with them and Veda helped them occasionally by taking care of their children.  They offered to let us stay in their apartment until we got our apartment ready.  So, we stayed with them for about two weeks!

Where there is a will