University Motel

     During Spring quarter of 1972, I came very close to chucking it all, and surely would have never graduated, had it not been for Dean Leo A. Padis.  The crisis arose in an ESM (Engineering and Science of Materials) class called "Strength of Materials", in which the instructer was a young smart-ass from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  The class contained several older military veterans like myself, including 2 who had served in Vietnam.  This lying Hopkins bastard handed out a study guide for an upcoming test, and then shamelessly tested us on something totally different.  The highest grade was 60, and when I received my grade of 35, I became enraged and stormed out of the classroom.  Speeding through the parking lot, I tossed class notes, textbook, and other materials out the window of my car.  As I careened down route 460 towards Roanoke (some 30 miles away), thoughts of crashing head-on into oncoming traffic swirled repeatedly through my brain.  Failure seemed iminent, and I knew I could never return home to face my Mother, or anyone else.  This was the closest I ever came to completely losing control, and going off the deep end.  I seriously thought of "terminating" myself.  Then, thinking I might be able to find a job and start a new life in Roanoke, I drove to the VEC office and parked outside.  While sitting there in my car, a subdued calmness suddenly fell over me, and I began to think rationally again.  It occurred to me that I had not struggled this hard, and come this far, to be smacked down by some young, lying, priviledged preppie bastard from Johns Hopkins.  If I was going down, I would take him with me.  I returned to the Tech campus, and went in to see Dean Leo A. Padis.  After hearing my story, Dean Padis was sympathetic and encouraged me,"don't give Up."  He insisted I buy a used textbook from Neillys, recopy lecture notes, and return to class.  He reminded me that at my age, quitting was no longer an option.  He then spoke of several classmates who'd voiced similar complaints against this professor, and I heard later that Dean Padis had called him in for a talk.  The test grades were curved, and my revised grade was a 75.  The next test was a fair representation of what had been covered in class, and I did well.  I only managed a "C" in the ESM course, but by the end of Spring Quarter I had raised my GPA high enough to avoid expulsion.  I had dodged the bullet, and the oncoming train.  Without the help of Dean Padis, to whom I will always be grateful, I may not have been so fortunate.

     Dr. Leo A. Padis was the Department of Engineering's Dean of Student Affairs in the Spring of 1972, and had served as the Director of the Office of Institutional Research in 1967.  He retired from Virginia Tech in 1988.  Dean Padis was apparently a strong advocate for the less fortunate student, and those who had faced more difflculties obtaining an education, and like myself, had not been aflicted with the "Priviledged Preppie" syndrome.  A scholarship was created in honor of Dean Padis--the Transfer Student Scholarship.  Transfer students from Virginia's community colleges are allowed to apply for the Leo A. Padis Scholarship.  It is available only to graduates of the Virginia Community College System who have earned an Associate Degree in Engineering.

 

Thank you Dean Padis for your kind words of encouragement--they probably saved my "Last Chance".