With all the administrative troubles in the department, no new faculty hires were permitted throughout most of the 1970's. The faculty leaving MTU, some retirements, and the movement of the geophysics program to geology resulted in a rapid decline in faculty numbers. The search for a successor to Mandeville involved noticeable infighting among the physics faculty. Roughly a dozen potential candidates were listed as having been interviewed, including several applicants from within the department. Ultimately an external candidate, Ian Shepard, was brought in to take the headship. Soon after his arrival, however, Shepard passed away due to illness. The department was then back looking for a new department head.

Throughout this time members of the department on several occasions had put forward Rolland Keeling as a possible choice. Keeling joined the faculty in 1960 as an associate professor and by 1963 was promoted to professor. He had a PhD, a decent but not overwhelming research record, was well-received by his students, and he tended to stay out of the department politics. However Keeling had not applied for the job. With the passing of Shepard, Keeling agreed to be "acting head" and after a time he was finally convinced to take the headship.

During the late 1960's and through the 1970's MTU’s president Ray Smith almost completely rebuilt the engineering buildings on campus. Hubbell hall was demolished in 1968, having been condemned and the State was not willing to come up with the funds to restore it. In its place rose the new MEEM building (now called the Raymond L. Smith Building). Around the same time several other new high-rises replaced the old. The bulk of college avenue, which ran between the Memorial Union and Hubbell Hall almost to the Sherman Gym,* was removed in 1970 and the divided four-lane road was put in around the south side of the campus—at the expense of some private homes. Small sections of what used to be continuations of College Avenue and Hubbell Street remain just north of the new Administration building and just west of the Memorial Union Building respectively.** Hence, while the Physics department was suffering from its growing pains, the rest of campus underwent a face lift.

With the large drop in Physics faculty numbers during the 1970's, accompanied by a still-growing student population, meeting the teaching demands on the department became a top priority. Any research efforts in the department became low priority. During this time Dave Chimino developed his audio-visual tutorial introductory physics labs, allowing the labs to proceed with a significant reduction in the need for faculty to be in attendance. Chimino was later recognized by MTU as a "Presidential Professor" largely based on these efforts.

* Sherman Gym was heavily remodeled in the early 1980's and is now called Walker Arts Center.

** At the time of this writing, there are still maps being produced, particularly web-based maps, which show both the old and new roads simultaneously.

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