Jacek M. Zurada, Ph.D

Samuel T. Fife Memorial

Samuel T. Fife Memorial Professorship in Electrical Engineering has been established to honor one of Speed School's most distinguished faculty members.

The Samuel T. Fife Memorial Professorship is supported by an endowment, consisting of funds donated by family members, alumni, and friends. The Professorship is held by senior faculty member and a nationally recognized individual who has distinguished record in scholarship, publications and research, in addition to a keen interest in both undergraduate and graduate teaching.

The Professorship is conferred by the University Board of Trustees upon a faculty member of outstanding academic qualifications and professional visibility.

Samuel Thomas Fife was a distinguished academician who spent over five decades in pursuit and sharing of knowledge. Education was the highest priority in the Fife family, whose family tree contains a long line of teachers. The deep commitment to teaching and working with the total student was one of Professor Fife’s stronger characteristics.

Descended from Scottish stock, Samuel Fife traces his roots in America to Block Island, Rhode Island in 1634. As a youth in Marion, Ohio, Samuel was exposed to Shakespeare and poetry, and the Bible was favorite bedtime reading. He held jobs as a paper boy, farm hand, silk mill operator and boiler cleaner for the railroad during WW I.

Professor Fife was educated at the University of Cincinnati, graduating in 1926 with membership in Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu Honorary Fraternities. The following year he continued with graduate work and taught engineering mathematics. Four decades later his alma mater honored his accomplishments with its Distinguished Alumnus Award.

He came to the University of Louisville, in 1927, and continued his distinguished career with successive promotions. From an initial appointment in 1927 as Assistant Professor, Samuel was promoted to an Associate Professor in 1930 and to a full Professor in Electrical Engineering in 1932, where he remained until his retirement in 1968. He served as Head of the departments of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, the latter from 1931 to 1942. As Professor of Electrical Engineering, he was highly respected by his colleagues and his students; and throughout his career, scores of international students were guests in the Fife family home, providing him with stimulating conversations and pleasure, while providing the students with a warm family environment.

In 1948 Samuel Fife was on leave from Speed Scientific School to the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in Washington, where he participated in the development of the transistor, which has revolutionized electronics.

In addition to his career at U of L, Professor Fife was a leader in several professional societies. He was active in both American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers. These two societies merged in 1966 to become the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of which Professor Fife was a Senior Member. He had been Chairman of the Louisville section of AIEE in 1934-1935, Kentucky Chapter President of the American Society of Engineering Education in 1933-1934 and President of the U of L chapter of the American Association of University Professors in 1941-1942.

Upon his retirement in 1968 and until his death in 1984, he was Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering. His retirement years also were spent travelling and enjoying cultural activities, including the Speed Museum, the Kentucky Opera, the U of L School of Music, and the Natural History Museum.

Nothing in Professor Fife’s life meant more to him than his family. A continuing inspiration to his professional life, his wife Claudine, his daughter Margaret, and his granddaughters Heather Louise and Gretchen Marie, provided him with endless joy and support.