trojan
Volume XCV, Number 49	University of Southern California	Tuesday, March 20, 1984
Electrical engineering gets new chairman to direct department
By Catalina Camia
Assistant Qty Editor
For 45-year-old Jerry Mendel, the time is right to assume the responsibilities of chairman of the department of electrical engineering systems.
"Now is the right time in my career to try something different," Mendel said after being elected last Friday by the electrical engineering systems faculty to take over the position vacated by Leonard Silverman, who is now dean of the School of Engineering.
Silverman, who now has the official responsibility of appointing the department chairmen, said he agreed with the faculty members and supported the the department's decision.
"I think Jerry Mendel is a very able and creative person," Silverman said. "He will continue the excellent tradition of the department."
Since 1982, Mendel has been associate chairman of the systems department of electrical engineering, which along with electro-physics makes up the department of electrical engineering. His responsibilities included graduate affairs and curriculum issues.
A trarspianted New Yorker, Mendel has been in California tar 2£t years Before joining the university in 1974, Vfeiwiei,9aME*OTM«Mfcer for the McDonnell-Douglas Astronautics Co. for 11 years.
"During the 1960s and 1970s, the emphasis changed from general research to more product-oriented research," he said. "I didn't feel comfortable with that."
Also during this time, Mendel was teaching extension courses at the University of California at Irvine and at McDonnell-Douglas, where he was considered the "m-house professor."
Thus, the transition from corporate research to teaching to administrative duties was easy for him, he said.
"As chairman, it is important for me to not only develop policies, but to be able to interact with faculty members, the administration and the students," Mendel said. "Being chairman means I'm getting more involved."
Although the electrical engineering department is currently ranked fifth in the nation behind MIT, UC Berke-
ley, Stanford and the University of Illinois, Mendel's goal is to make it fourth because he said he feels the university must strengthen itself as a whole before the School of Engineering can receive the same type of nationwide recognition as MIT or UC Berkeley.
"There is a domino effect involved," he said. "It only takes a few academic units to change and benefit the university."
Among Mendel's other goals is to decrease the student-to-faculty ratio in the School of Engineering, as dictated by the school's five-year plan, by increasing the number of faculty members and decreasing the number of students through tougher entrance requirements.
Mendel said there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of applications to the electrical engineering systems department for 1984-85, partly because of the high national ranking.
"The increase and tougher entrance requirements gives us a great opportunity to be more selective," he said.
Mendel said it is an exciting time to be chairman, be-
(Continued on page 11)
New court to ease
By Dina Heredia
Qty Writer
A special Olympic subcommittee of the Los Angeles Municipal Court announced the establishment of a small claims court Friday that will quickly resolve disputes between Olympic visitors and local residents.
The court will convene from July 16 to Aug. 31 in the Los Angeles County Court House where several judges will hear cases every weekday at 1:30 p.m. An additional session will be held on Mondays at 5:30 p.m.
Judge Maxine Thomas, co-chairwoman of the court's Olympic Civil Planning Committee along with Judge Richard Adler, said the Olympic Visitors Small Claims Court will process cases within 10 days of filing instead of the regular 35 to 40 days.
JERRY MENDEL
Olympic caseload
She said this will provide a way to resolve suits, especially for amounts less than $1,500, before an out-of-town visitor has to leave Los Angeles.
Both Judge Morton Rochman, the chairman overseeing Thomas' subcommittee, and Thomas said they did not know how many people would use the court, though Rochman said they had printed several thousand forms for the court's use.
Thomas said it would be wonderful if the court's caseload was not as heavy as anticipated, but in the event that it is, the court will be available to resolve civil disputes. She added the committee was setting very light civil case calendars for the Games.
(Continued on page 10)
Cross-campus relay race launches Olympics Week
By Glen Quon
City Writer
Olympics Week got off to a running start Monday with fun, excitement and refreshments at a five-kilometer relay which sent 30 runners racing across campus.
The race, which began and ended in front of Tommy Trojan, consisted of six teams of five members who each ran approximately one kilometer with a cardinal and gold pompon as a baton.
Susan Steele, a graduate intern, and Jennifer Siu, assistant director of intramurals and recreation, organized the event which was open to faculty, students and staff.
From Tommy Trojan, the teams' first leg ran to the southern end of University Avenue at Exposition Boulevard, back up University until they reached 34th Street and then returned to Tommy Trojan.
The second leg ran from Tommy Trojan to Cromwell Field via Childs Way and also ran two laps on the Cromwell Field Track.
After the second leg was completed, the pompon was passed to the third leg which also ran two laps on the track. Consequently, it was to a team's advantage to have the runner with least amount of physical stamina run the third leg, Steele said.
The fourth leg was the same
as the second leg, with the participants running back to Tommy Trojan.
The fifth and final leg was identical to the first leg, but the runners headed first for the northern end of University Avenue before running south to Exposition Boulevard and back to Tommy Trojan.
Although they got off to a slow start, the "P.E. Blasters," consisting of university physical
education instructors Linda Cassidy, Quinten Simms, Katie Cole, Steven Contarsy and Dean Collotta, pulled it out in the final leg, finishing first with a time of 16 minutes 22.2 seconds.
Collotta proved to be the difference in the relay by overtaking frontrunner Jim Hess of "Beaty's Blitzers” halfway through the final leg.
"The first thing I wanted to do (Continued on page 6)
Sparse crowd hears
lecture on Olympics
By John Kirby
Qty Writer
Doyce Nunis, a professor of history at the university, began Olympics Week Monday with a look back at Los Angeles during the 1932 Olympic Games and a look at the differences in the dty 52 years later as Los Angeles again prepares to host the Games.
Only five people were on hand in the Topping Student Center as Nurds addressed the topic, "L.A. 1932 and 1984: Host City to the Olympic Games."
Nunis began his talk by tracing the history of the original Olympic Games, which began in 776 B.C. The Games were discontinued in A.D. 393 because the Roman Empire, which was becoming increasingly Christian, felt the Games were a pagan rite, Nunis said.
The Games were revived in 1896 and have since been interrupted only by war. These interruptions occurred in 1916, 1940 and 1944. The Winter Games were added to the Olympic tradition in 1924.
Nunis told the audience that Los Angeles is one of only three cities which has been selected twice as hosts for the Summer
(Continued on page 10)
CRAIG STEWART DAILY TROJAN
Mike Obarski speeds toward the end of his leg in a five-kilometer relay race which began at Tommy Trojan.