Creator: Ted Simon

Subjects: Anniversaries, Sesquicentennial

Description: Ted Simon received his degree in 1942 in civil engineering. After his graduation, he worked at General Motors for four years before coming back to MSU to work as an assistant construction engineer. He was responsible for laying out campus water, sewer and electrical systems as well as future road plans.

Simon developed a book of standards that provided guidelines to outside consultants to the type of building components MSU would accept as standard. In the mid 1950s he was named superintendent of building and utilities.

Simon also developed co-generational power plants to control heat and electrical waste on the campus, and in 1965 the first steam-generated power plant was named after him. He retired in 1984.

Topics/People Covered in the Interview include: Chester Allen; Ira Baccus; Berkey, McDonel, Wells, Wonders Hall; co-generational power plants; Henry Dicks; Henry Duckelberg; Emory Foster; John Hannah; Jenison Fieldhouse/Gymnasium; Ed Kenny; Harold Lawtner; Philip May; MSU campus in 1946; construction guidelines; development of power plants; enrollment/enrollment predictions in 1946; housing in 1946; T B Simon Power Plant; Natural Science, Union Building; steam-generated power plants; University Village; Roger Wilkinson

Date: November 11, 2001

Collection Number: UA 3

Language: English

Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by Michigan State University and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Contributing Institution: University Archives & Historical Collections, Office of the Provost

Relation: Sesquicentennial Oral History Project

Contributor: MSU Archives and Historical Collections