From drake@hindmost.LPL.Arizona.EDU Wed Apr 3 13:00:33 2002 Date: Mon, 1 Apr 2002 15:36:11 -0700 (MST) From: drake@hindmost.LPL.Arizona.EDU Cc: jruiz@geo.Arizona.EDU Subject: Retirement Office of the Head and Director Department of Planetary Sciences Lunar and Planetary Laboratory University of Arizona PO Box 210092 Tucson Arizona 85721-0092 Tel: (520) 621-6962 Fax: (520) 626-6647 email: drake@lpl.arizona.edu April 1, 2002 TO: All LPL FROM: Michael J. Drake, Head and Director SUBJECT: Retirement I am extremely disappointed in the declining quality of the April 1 pranks over the past few years. In fact, I can only assume that this is reflecting the actual quality of the students themselves, which certainly has been getting worse. I can only assume that this trend will continue, and the small contribution of the graduate students to the success of LPL will also continue to decline. At this rate, there is a possibility that within the next few years the tenured faculty will actually have to do real work. I intend to retire before this happens. In fact, to be on the safe side, I'm planning a long year's sabbatical, to be followed by my retirement on April 1, 2003. After that time, I plan to concentrate, as an emeritus professor, on my true calling, the teaching and mentoring of new students. Perhaps, within the next 10 years, this awful trend can be reversed. I am happy to announce that Dr. Robert H. Brown has agreed to fill in as Head and Director while I am away on sabbatical. Sincerely, Mike Drake