Eastern Michigan University - Aurora Yearbook (Ypsilanti, MI)

Page 11 text:

While he has always been devoted to the work of teaching and has studied the great problems of education as such, yet outside of these there have been several lines of work and numerous interests that have attracted him. During his college course and supplementary to it, an interest in the study of Silurian and Devonian geology was aroused by illustrated lectures given by James Hall and Prof. Taylor. He thus became a student and collector and for ten summers explored all accessible outcrops of rocks along the lakes of central New York. As a result he wrote a complete description of the fossil remains in the Lower Carboniferous Strata of that region. As a student of Archaeology, his interests were confined to actual exploration, under the direction of the Kent Scientific Institute, of the Indian Mounds of Grand River Valley. To this work he devoted four summers and made voluminous reports, which, however, have never been published. A large collection of copper implements was thus obtained which in transit to the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876 was unfortunately lost. From boyhood Professor Strong has been a student of polarization in optics, both on the theoretical and practical sides. This interest was aroused by courses of lectures given in the historical school house among the hills of central New York from '44 to '50 by a Mr. Chubbuck, a brother of Fanny Forester, and E. L. You- mans, afterward founder of the Popular Science Monthly. Both of these gentlemen had polarizing microscopes and taught how to prepare slides. As leisure hours permitted, for many years, he has made numerous and reliable rock sections in connection with his other researches and studies. His attention has by no means been confined to scientific lines, but his interests have been shown equally in literature and art. As a student and critic in literature he has but few equals. One may converse with him upon any of the great masterpieces of the past or on the more recent productions and feel that he is listening to an expert who has devoted his life to this study. This is none the less true of him in his interests in art, particularly in paint- ing and architecture. These interests were likewise aroused by courses of lectures given by a college professor, and have been continued through study and travel, both at home and abroad. Having visited many of world's famous galleries, he was enabled to do a large service as a member of the art committee appointed to select the subjects in the college collection of reproductions.

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Ebwin Zltson Strong ROFESSOR STRONG was born in Otisco, Onondaga County, New York, January 3, 1834. In 1858 he moved to Michigan, where he has since resided. Graduating from Union College in 1858, he received the degree of A. B. and in 1863 he was granted the degree of A. M. from the same institution. His entire life has been given over to the services of the schools, and with the exception of a short period his work has been done in this state. - Upon coming to Michigan, he became principal of the Grand Rapids high school, which position he held with such marked success that after the expiration of fourteen years he was made superintendent of the the city schools of Grand Rapids. where he remained for eleven years. He then returned to his native state and for two years was professor of Natural Sciences in the New York State Normal School. In 1885 he became professor of Physical Ssiences in the Michigan State Normal School, which position he now holds and has held since that time. Professor Strong has always shown a deep interest in the affairs of education outside of the school room. He has been a student of educational problems and in this capacity has exerted no small amount of infiuence on the schools themselves. As a member of various educational associations, he has at different times served them in an official Way. He has been president of the Kent Scientific Institute of Grand Rapids, and for eighteen years was the curator of the museum. I-Ie has also been honored with the presidency of the Michigan State Teachers' Associationg of the Michigan School Masters, Clubg and of the Michigan Association of High School Principalsg for three terms he was vice-president of the National Educational Association and was one of the delegates to the London International Educational Conference of 1884. This has enabled him to come in touch with the best thought of the age and has given him that broad educational culture which has always characterized his teaching.

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Professor Strong has always been a man standing for the best citizenship and has ever exerted his efforts in favor of good local government. As a member of Business Men's Associations, Good Government Leagues and Temperance Leagues, he has stood for principle, and in this wav he has exerted an iniiuence that has been felt not only in the school but in the community, as well as in the state at large. Thus we see a man of strong character with a keen insight into the affairs of life, of broad scholarship and with large and varied interests beyond his special subject. He possesses the true spirit of the teacher. The student feels, as he leaves his class room, that he has obtained more than mere scienceg he realizes that the stamp of manhood has been impressed upon his character 5 that he has been influenced by the life of a cultured man, and that the inspiration for greater interests, more valuable service to others, and a desire for the best things of life, have unconsciously come into his being.