UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #376
OSTRANDER, RONALD O.

OSTRANDER, Ronald O. (1912-1998)
Undergraduate Student, Chemical Engineering
At UW: 1932-1935

Interviewed: 1983	
Interviewer: Mailed questionnaire
Length: 01:17:43

Background; Transfer to UW; Choice of chemical engineering as major; Dress; Student behavior; Classes; Influential professors, including Otto Kowalke, Olaf Hougen, Roland Ragatz, Edward Maurer and Morton Withey; Undergraduate life and housing; Football and boxing; Extra-curricular activities; Attitudes about alcohol, drugs and sex; Summer employment at Wisconsin Dells; Career after graduation.

00:02:04	Graduated from Montevideo High School in Montevideo, Minnesota in 1930.  Attended North Dakota State College; then transferred to UW, which he attended from 1932-35. Interested in school of engineering, found it it to be the best in the country.

00:02:20	Departure from home and arrival at UW.

00:02:50	Orientation.

00:03:40	Chemical Engineering major.

00:04:51	Dress of students and professors.

00:05:39	Student behavior.

00:06:52	Classes; co-ed nature of; class size.

00:07:49	Lived in youth from 1920-1927. 1922: Moved to WI Dells. Worked as a guide at age 10. 1927: Moved to Montevideo, MN. Returned each summer to WI Dells to work through summer. Paid very well. 

00:10:20	Influential professors, including Otto Kowalke; Olaf Hougen; Roland Ragatz; Maurer and Withey; and Fisher.

00:13:46	Life of undergraduate. Fast paced.

00:18:50	Athletics, including crew, boxing and football.

00:21:06	Participation in extra-curricular activities at North Dakota State University.

00:22:24	Lived first in a private residence; then in his sophomore year in Adams Hall.  Worked as dishwasher in Adams Hall.

00:24:30	Roommate and house fellow noted; discusses serving dinners in Adams Hall.

00:25:16	Discusses date. 

00:25:48	Song "When It's Dark On Observatory Hill" was popular. Sings song.

00:28:04	Discussion of dormitory experience. Made friends with student who was very successful engineering student. Found to be positive experience. Made friends with house fellow, John, who was a medical student.

00:31:56	Lived for year in house near Camp Randall.

00:34:07	Didn't spend much time in Memorial Union. Was finance chairman of Military Ball. Bands got paid in cash at end of evening.

00:37:07	Read Daily Cardinal. Notes perception of: was a liberal publication. Considered radical.

00:37:50	Thought lawyers, etc., should handle politics; as engineer he was more concerned with advancing productivity of society.

00:39:00	Attitudes toward alcohol, drugs, and sex noted.

00:40:32	Intramural sports discussed again. Football most popular spectator sport of day.

00:41:52	Discusses Mickey McQuire, Coach Spears, and the 1932 football team.

00:44:07	Fred Swan was boxing coach. Eventually replaced by Johnny Walsh. Discusses quickness of Walsh as a boxer. Under Walsh, UW became a national boxing power. Discusses some of better fighters.

00:53:08	Played left guard on the football team in fall of 1932. Talks about season.  

00:55:06	Returns to talking about professors he had at UW, including Kowalke, Hougen, Ragatz, Maurer, Withey, and Fisher. Relates anecdote about incident in course taught by Otto Kowalke.

01:01:06	Summertime job as a guide at Wisconsin Dells. Enjoyable and financially rewarding.

01:04:02	Reflects on years at UW; and talks about need to stress quality over quantity in education.

01:08:53	Talks about lofty career goals he had when he left UW.

End of oral history #376