Wallace Starr VenableWelcome to
Wallace Starr VenableMechanical & Aerospace Engineering
West Virginia University
These pages can lead you to a variety of information about me and my interests.
I enjoyed teaching Engineering Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering at West Virginia University for over thirty years, but when WVU offered me a "retirement incentive," I took it so I could try new things. I'm "retired" only in the sense that I am no longer on a university salary or directed by a college. I still devote essentially full time to teaching, research, and public service.
Much of my effort was devoted to the Engineering Education
Program at WVU.
During the period from about 1965 through 1990, faculty members associated with West Virginia University (WVU) made many contributions to the understanding of engineering education. This web site makes publications on those ideas and studies more accessible to today's faculty and students.
My current activities and interests include:
River and canal boating, both in the USA and Europe.
Upper Monongahela River Association - An organization promoting the Monongahela River as a recreational resource. I'm also webmaster for another web site promoting the Mon River, www.MonRiverSummit.org.
UK canals - We owned two Dawncraft boats in England for a number of years. Here is some Dawncraft information which I collected.
Local history
My wife Norma and I have finished a picture book titled Around Morgantown. It was published by Arcadia Publishing in May 2007.
Since 1998 I have been working with others to develop a local history museum. I did much of the display construction for Riverfront Museums, Inc. in Morgantown. The RMI museum in Seneca Center opened in 2000 and closed in January 2005.
Studying glass and doing "art glass."
My Glass Page provides access to several .PDF files which I have created on my experiments with glass-working technologies and some historical resources.
Mechanical Music
We enjoy mechanical music of many sorts, but particularly the group of machines known as carousel organs in the USA and as fairgrounds organs in Britain.
I finished construction of a John Smith design "Senior 20" hand cranked organ in March 2006. Shortly after that my wife bought an OSI Strasse Orgel.
We frequently attend COAA (Carousel Organ Association of America) rallies.
Family Genealogy
I have been creating an electronic archive of materials relating to my family's genealogy. While this is primarily for distribution to my immediate family on CD and DVD, some of that collection is on line here.
Teaching non-credit adult courses, particularly in conjunction with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), formerly known as Appalachian Lifelong Learners at WVU.
Getting Out of Town: Morgantown's Interstate Connections - Winter Term - 2012
Recently I have taught several courses related to computer use. These have included one called "Digitizing Your Artifacts," as well as sessions on the use of "shareware" and "freeware" software including Ubuntu L:inux, Open Office, and GIMP, and preparing simple web pages.
During the Winter 2007 term I taught "Images of Morgantown," based on our (then) forthcoming picture book titled Around Morgantown.
During October 2007 I led a trip on the River Thames, in England. Details are posted at
www.wallace-venable.name/ALL_at_WVU/Thames
In November 2007 I lead a day trip to two Pennsylvania glass factories.
In January-February 2008 I lead an OLLI trip to Pittsburgh to to visit the Pittsburgh Glass Center and to see Chihuly at the Phipps and doing two pre-trip presentations on the trip subjects.
In the spring of 2008 I joined with Emory Kemp to present an OLLI course Crossing the Mountain - Engineering the Allegheny Crossing in which we discussed the trails, roads, canals and railroads between the East Coast and the Monongahela Valley. We followed this with a day-long field trip to Cumberland, MD to see related museums and to ride the Western Maryland steam train.
I can be contacted at wallace.venable@mail.wvu.edu