The SamR FAQ

Since I learn a lot about my Tutees from their folders, I consider it only appropriate that I provide some similar information to them. I have expressed that information in the form of a FAQ, even though some of these questions are rarely, if ever, asked.

Basic Personal Information

Where were you born?

Boston, MA

When?

17 June 1964

What is your marital status?

Married. My wife prefers not to have her name on the Internet.

Do you have children?

Yes, I have three wonderful boys.

Outside of work, what do you do for fun?

Mostly spend time with the kids. I also like to read. I'm enough of a geek that I sometimes program for fun. My wife and I like to play cards, but we don't seem to have enough time to do so. This summer, we also started to learn to golf, and I like playing with my kids.

Parents

What are your parents' names?

Freda and Bill Rebelsky

What degrees did they receive and from where?

Freda received a B.A. (I'm not sure in what), a second Bachelor's degree in law, and a Master's degree in psychology from the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard. She recalls being asked when applying to Harvard (approximately), What guarantee can you give us that you won't have children and waste your degree?

Bill did lots of coursework at the University of Chicago, but never received a degree. (I'm not sure he ever got a high-school degree, either.)

What did they do?

Freda was a professor of psychology at Boston University.

Bill was an executive at Polaroid. At the time he died (1979), he was a vice-president of some sort.

High School

Where did you go to high school?

Newton North.

What was your g.p.a.?

I do not recall.

What was your class rank?

32 out of about 1000. (32 is one of my favorite numbers, so that's easier to remember than my g.p.a.)

What extracurricular activites did you particpate in?

Hmmm ... Math club ... Geology club ... probably not much else.

Did you work in high school?

Certainly. I worked in a large newstand as a stock boy for a few years and then worked in New England Mobile Book Fair, an awesome book store, for senior year.

What were your SAT scores?

640 verbal, 780 math. This was before the scale changed.

Did you take any advanced placement exams?

I know that I took math; I can't remember if I took any others.

College and other Higher Education

Where did you go to college?

I attended the University of Chicago, where I majored in mathematics.

What was your g.p.a. at UofC?

I don't recall. I made dean's list every semester but one, but I think that only required a 3.2 or so.

What was your lowest course grade?

I got a C in my second quarter of Physics. I remember doing less well than I would have liked in Greek Thought in Literature, but I can't recall whether I got a B or a C. (My grades are not currently close at hand.)

What led you to apply to Chicago?

Both parents went there, and I think there's a rule that you need to sacrifice your first-born to The College if you don't stay in Hyde Park for at least a decade. I'd been to a Math camp there between junior and senior years of high school and really liked it. I actually didn't think too much about the applicaiton process: I applied to Chicago, Yale, MIT, and B.U. Everyone but Yale accepted me, and I decided that Chicago was the best bet (father from home than MIT or B.U., more well rounded than MIT, better ranked than B.U.).

What extracurricular activities did you do in college?

I was very active in DOC, the primary film group on campus. I played some ultimate frisbee, but not very well. I worked a lot.

What work did you do?

I was a tutor for calculus and computer science. I worked as an attendant in the central user computing site.

How many hours per week did you work?

About twenty.

Where did you go to graduate school?

I cleverly stayed at the University of Chicago.

When did you get your Ph.D.?

1993.

Grinnell

When did you first hear about Grinnell?

When I was searching for jobs and saw the name in an ad. The ad sounded interesting. (I was looking primarily for small liberal arts colleges.

What about Grinnell seemed intersting?

I can't recall. I was applying to a lot of places (50+).

Where else did you apply?

Yeah, right. I have very little memory of that many places. I remember U. Maine Farmington, DePauw, Willamette, Creighton, and, um, a few more.

Why did you choose to come to Grinnell?

The students were among the best I encountered, particularly in their interest in learning for the sake of learning. The senior CS faculty were (and are) great. I loved the design of the introductory curriculum. I thought it was great that I was interviewed by a variety of faculty.

When did you come to Grinnell?

1997.

What do you at Grinnell (other than teaching)?

I chair the technology studies concentration. I advise lots of students. I serve on too many committees (including the Committee for the Support of Faculty Scholarship (CSFS), the Faculty Organization Committee (FOC), the Tutorial Committee (no acronym), and the Interdisciplinary Studies Interim Advisory Board (which I refer to as ISIAB). I also try to do research on Web technologies.

Miscellaneous

What did you do between 1993 (when you got your Ph.D.) and 1997 (when you started at Grinnell)?

Mostly taught at Dartmouth.

What should we do if we have other questions?

Send them to me and see if I respond or add them to the FAQ (or both). Note that I won't necessarily respond to all questions.