Ferris State University - Ferriscope Yearbook (Big Rapids, MI)

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Y' Left to Right- Sarge, Doug, Martha, Rick, President Spathelf, Dave, Mrs. Spathelf. The President's Family When Victor F. Spathelf came to Ferris lnstitute nine years ago as president, the Board of Control said to him, Our resources are limited. We can but offer you what we believe is a great oppor- tunity, plus a salary and many problems. Dr. Spathelf looked over the college, which then consisted of one classroom building with two new wings iust completed, and said, Let's first talk about a place for the students to live and more class- room area for them to learn in, and he rolled up his sleeves and went to work. In his nine years at Ferris, the college has grown from three buildings to 34 with more under construction and still more on the drawing board. The campus has grown from 19 acres to 247 acres. Dr. Spathelf's attitude has been: build a college for the students and get the best available instructors to train them. The fact that the college has built eight dormitories, a student center, and 14 apartment buildings for married students when the president was told there was no possible way for Ferris to build residence buildings without the collateral of existing revenue-pro- ducing facilities, gives an inkling of the perseverance and perhaps stubbornness of purpose of Dr. Spathelf. To build a college with the dimensions of today's Ferris has meant the devising of a master plan flexible enough to be changed quickly as circumstances demanded a change. But Dr. Spathelf doesn't consider flexibility, alone, an asset. Says he: An amoeba is flexible enough, but without backbone he ends up going nowhere. ln order to be sensitive to every facet of needed developn in the overall plan, Dr. Spathelf has always been alert to e' aspect of administration and instruction within the entire colli This means he has kept unusually well informed on every phasi college activity. Sometimes, in the rapid onrush of developme the president's reasoning in stressing a particular development unclear to the uninitiated observer only to become evident of action fit into its proper place in the jigsaw puzzle of Ferris' growth and development. Dr. Spathelf gets what he wants becc he has an apparently limitless knowledge of the many things administrator must know. He can talk anybody's language, and he is extremely sensitive to other people's reactions not only to v he is saying, but to what he is going to say. His feelnig of integrity in public service is highly developec perhaps an inheritance from his minister father. Especially appa is his belief in documenting institutional information with fact, he frequently chides his aides for presenting a figure which obscure the truth. Vigorous to the point of perpetual motion, works many nights each week and frequently keeps some of aides after hours. Witticisms around the college often refer to president's idea of overtime work as the spare hours betvi midnight and 7 a.m. On the other hand, Dr. Spathelf gives the pression of being completely relaxed. If someone goes to his o on appointment, the president talks to him as if the visitor's prok was the only problem confronting either of them.

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Board of Control Judge Wllham J Muller Dr Glenn C Bond Dr Bond was appomled by Governor G Mennen Wulluams to fill the vacancy cre ated by the deaih of Col Roy C Vander cook In Aprul, 1958 Mr Lawrence W Prakken Dr R'-1559. B NYG Mr Charles E Falrman Mrs Bess E Fnshman The Honorable Raymond W Starr Mr Eugene A Ward s ' - ' ' . ' r J-'75 A '. mf l . ' M. V. . ' ' Q V X- Q u r ,