Harrison Streeter

Professor Emeritus

Prior to coming to the University of Illinois, Thomas R. Woodley had a distinguished career in the U.S. Army. From 1951 to 1955, he served as a troop commander in various commands including West Germany. From 1955 to 1957, he went to school at the U.S. Army Armor School. In 1957-58, he earned his master's degree in engineering mechanics at the University of Illinois. After that, he taught mechanics from 1958-61 at the U.S. Military Academy. In 1961 and 1962, he was an inspector general for the 1st Cavalry Division in South Korea. He then served as a test officer for the U.S. Army Armor and Engineering Board in Fort Knox, Kentucky, from 1962 to 1965. After six months at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, he returned to command the 2nd Armored Cavalry in Amberg, West Germany, until May 1966. From 1966 until 1969, he was at the Pentagon in the Office of the Chief of Research and Development. After that, he had several troop commands until he came to the University of Illinois as Professor and Head of the Military Science Department as a colonel from 1972 to 1975. He was then selected as Director of Instrumentation of the U.S. Army Combat Development Experimental Center at Camp Roberts, California. However, because of family considerations, he elected to retire from the Army.

He then enrolled in the PhD program in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at the University of Illinois from 1975 to 1978 and was a teaching assistant. He was a visiting lecturer in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 1979; Visiting Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 1980; and joined the Department of General Engineering as a lecturer in 1980. He became an Associate Professor in 1985.

His teaching has covered a wide range of courses, including TAM 156, TAM 221, ME 220, ME 224, GE 220, GE 232, GE 234, GE 393 (now GE 498), GE 234, GE 242 (now GE 494), and developing new methods for teaching GE 103 (now GE 101). In this latter capacity, he collaborated with Michael H. Pleck in Project EXCEL whereby the use of microcomputers was adapted to the instruction of GE 103, Enigneering Design Graphics. He also helped develop the use of networked microcomputers in teaching all of the general engineering design sequence and to teaching computer-aided design as a part of the upper division sequence of design courses. He and Pleck received national recognition for the adaptation and use of of Auto-CAD in the teaching of engineering graphics. The presented many papers and presentations to vendor organizations, as well as technical societies.

All of his students rated him as an outstanding teacher. In teaching GE 220, History of Engineering, he was particularly recognized for his effectiveness. He retired in January 1994.

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