Editor:

On Feb. 4, the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department experienced a fire that devastated a conference library room and four offices in the East wing of the second floor. Much of what was in these rooms was permanently damaged or lost. Most fortun ately, however, no one was injured; although, subsequently, smoke residue and odor have affected numerous persons who returned to the building.

Within 48 hours of the fire, the AME Department was functional again, at least in so far as honoring class commitments to students and reestablishing an administrative structure by which to coordinate the department's business was concerned. The cooperati on of staff, students and faculty facilitated a speedy temporary reconfiguration. However, such a speedy reconfiguration would have been impossible without the support and assistance of many individuals and groups throughout the campus who displayed both solidarity and compassion with respect to AME's plight.

I recently asked the AME faculty and staff to provide me with the names of persons known to them who responded so quickly and generously to support us in any way, and I received over 30 names. Such a list is too long to printed here and I am sure that wer e I to do so I would still leave many persons and/or groups unnamed.

Thus, the best I can do on behalf of the AME Department is to publicly express our sincere appreciation to all those kind individuals who helped us live through a difficult time, only to emerge stronger through experience.

Joseph A.C. Humphrey
AME Department Head