Duane F. Dipprey Collection, 1991-1995.

ArchivalResource

Dipprey, Duane F. Duane F. Dipprey Collection, 1991-1995.

Duane F. Dipprey Collection, 1991-1995.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733100917

The collection is composed of Chronological Files from Dipprey's tenure as JPL Associate Director. They are primarily concerned with routine administrative duties. The collection is dated from January 1991 to May 1995, encompassing his years as JPL Associate Director, and his on-call status after retiring from the Lab. Missing in the collection are files from June to December 1992. The files for those months were not included in the accession, and have not been located elsewhere. The final document in the collection is the notice of termination for Dipprey, dated May 23, 1995. The Associate Director's Office was responsible for compiling lists of detailees, assignees and visiting scientists for NASA Headquarters and the JPL Executive Council. Lists of these people are in the collection for nearly every month. Yearly performance evaluations of JPL conducted by NASA are also included in the collection. Typical of these documents is the 1990 Performance Evaluation, Final Report and Follow-up Action on Deficiencies, dated March 21, 1991. The Response to the Performance Evaluation, dated July 8, 1991, is also in the collection. The 1991 performance evaluation is represented in the collection by a rough draft, dated November 11, 1991. The Final Report and Follow-Up Action on Deficiencies are attached to a May 5, 1992 memo issued from Dipprey and Winston Gin to the Executive Council. An interoffice memorandum dated April 18, 1991 to the Executive Council, included as an attachment the first Environmental Cleanup fact sheet. Environmental cleanup issues at the Lab began with the 1980 discovery of traces of solvents in wells located southeast of JPL. Around October 1991, the Superfund Executive Committee was formed by JPL Director Dr. Edward Stone to provide oversight and policy guidance to Lab staff throughout the process of investigation and site remediation. A March 16, 1992 interoffice memo from Dipprey included a management plan for the implementation of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study project to assess the alternatives available to remedy the groundwater contamination at JPL. The business management strategy of Total Quality Management (TQM) was noted in several memos dating back to early 1991. A memo dated June 5, 1991 from NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly announced that NASA Headquarters senior management would receive formal TQM training in mid July 1991. Material from a presentation that Dipprey made entitled "Introducing JPL to the NASA TQM Assessment Team," dated August 28, 1981, is also in the collection. A February 14, 1992 memo from Ed Stone formally introduced TQM to all employees. Additionally, a March 10, 1992 memo from Dipprey to distribution announced that TQM awareness workshops for all employees in the Office of the Director were conducted in May 1992. Reduction in Laboratory personnel beginning in 1992 is reflected a February 5, 1992 memo from Ed Stone. Stone estimated a reduction of 100 to 150 positions would be required by the end of the year, due to the cancellation of the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) Project, and the reduction of the Cassini Project. A series of memos issued in April and May 1992 documents the funding of a book on the Voyager Program by Dr. David W. Swift of the University of Hawaii. In an April 2, 1992 memo, Moustafa Chahine reported that Swift had requested JPL support to fund the book. Several issues were raised with the possibility of the funding of a non-JPL person to write a book about Lab personnel. A May 6, 1992 letter from Swift to JPL Archivist Michael Hooks noted that Swift was willing to assign royalties from the book directly to JPL. A May 11, 1992 memo from Chahine to Dipprey noted that Hooks believed that the project should be funded. Swift's book, Voyager Tales: Personal Views of the Grand Tour, an oral history of the Voyager Program, was ultimately published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1997. Six folders contain documents that are stamped or marked "JPL Discreet." The original positions of Discreet material in the collection have been marked with separation sheets. The material has been moved to a box at the end of the collection.

1.35 cubic ft. (30 folders)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives