New York University School of Commerce - Commerce Violet Yearbook (New York, NY)

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General Courses ESIGNED to furnish business students with the cultural training so essential to the well-informed business man, the General Course Department was organized in September, 1926. This department gives a series of survey courses embracing the Helds of litera- ture, history, mathematics, science, psychology, so- ciology, art, government, public speaking, and ethics, all of which attempt to acquaint tl1e student broadly with the best thought in these helds. Before the General Department was organized, the curriculum of the School of Commerce consisted primarily of courses in business subjects. As a result, both on the advice of alumni and faculty, it was decided that the curriculum at Commerce was DOE broad enough to prepare the graduate to take his proper place in social affairs. Therefore, the faculty introduced into the curriculum tl1e survey type of cultural course that has now been so widely adopted . .. lEIl l.K'llIl by other universities. C Mau 1 C U Clmiiwmiz Journalism OR twenty-nine years the Department of journalism has been carrying on an important pro- gram. lnaugurated by Dean joseph F. Johnson of the School of Co1n1nerce, Accounts and Finance in 1911, the department was first headed by james M. Lee. Besides being author of History of American jozmmlism, which is used by the department today, Professor Lee also wrote Opportunities in the ATGZUSIJIIPU7' Bfzzsiness and other i1nportant books on journalism. Under his leadership, the department widened tl1e scope and improved the quality of the courses offered. When Professor Lee died in 1929, Professor Henry Bailey Rathbone was appointed to succeed him as chairman. The department con- tinued to build its reputation as a leading school of journalism, and the en- rollment of journalism majors soon ranked with those of the Departments of Accounting, Marketing, Law, and other important divisions in the School of COIHITIGFCC. On the staff of the department are to be found some of the leading journalists of today. Last year Professor Gregory Mason's book, Remembei' the Maine, was published by Henry Holt and Company. Mr. Mason is an assistant professor of journalism. The Biography of Daniel -W-W-aww ,.,..,. . Boone by Professor john Bakeless, con- taining documentary material never be- fore presented in printed form, made its fr Henry B. Rathbone appearance in the latter part of August, Clzztirmcm receiving wide acclaim in literary circles. 28

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Business English HE Department of Business English continues to carry forward the aims promulgated in 1908 when the hrst course in business writing was offered at New York University. At that time the idea was advanced that in a pro- fessional school English can best be learned through tl1e practical application of the principles of rhetoric to specihc business problems. It was felt, too, that men with business experience - complemented, of course, by a full background in English grammar and rhetoric - were better equipped to teach these courses than were men wl1o had only a11 academic training. Not only have these ideas been carried forward by tl1e School of Commerce to the present day, but they have been adopted by other professional colleges as well. A, Earle lX-Ianville The curriculum of the department includes courses Clmiirmgm in the construction of business letters, in the writing of accountants, letters and reports, and in public speaking. The courses in public speaking are de signed to train tl1e student to prepare and present the type of speeches that are usually demanded in business, social, and community life. Economies HEN the School of Commerce was organized this Department of Economics was the only one of its kind in New York University. Sometime later, about IQQ3, the nucleus of the Economics was formed by members of our department. A few years later the Economics Depart- ment at the Heights was started by taking members from the Commerce department. In recent years a small department of economics has been formed in the School of Business Administration and in the Graduate School of Liberal Arts. The first chairman of tl1e Economics Department was John F. Johnson, He was followed by Willard Fisher, and then by James D. Magee. Dr. Walter E. Spahr was appoint- ed chairman in 1927. The most important change in depart- 1 ment technique, since Dr. Spahr became chairman, has been to have departmental questions passed on by members of the staff, rather than to have the chairman act as the head. This has made for greater democracy of administration in the de- partment. Another important change has been in the teaching of Statistics. Years ago little stress was laid upon this sub- ject but now three consecutive years of statistics are given. Elementary economics has been made a two-year' course. The fourth change was to create staff assis- tants, including two senior assistants and four junior assistants, all of whom are VValter E. Spahr graduate students. C7wi1'11w11 27

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Law AVING led the Law Department since its inauguration in September 1902, Professor Cleveland F. Bacon has retired from his position as chairman and has been appointed professor emeritus. Excellent results have been obtained from the new policy introduced last year regarding classroom procedure. The change required all students studying law to do term problems entailing much re- search work and to take monthly quizzes in each course. The problems are de- signed to enable students to keep abreast of all the changes that are occurring in G. Rowland Collins business as well as in the law Held. Clmirmnn No additions have been made to the faculty of the department during the past year, but Mr. John M. MacGregor and Mr. Stuart IV. Rowe were raised from the rank of instructor to that of assistant professor. Other members of the department are: Assistant Professor Mfalter P. Myer and Messrs. Earle H. Gale, IVilliam E. Bowe, Xllalter R. Barry, James E. Manning, Douglas E. Mathewson, YVilliam Grossman, A. Vincent Ru bino. and Ralph Santoro. In many cases, these faculty members are engaged in outside practices, thus acquiring working knowledge of the courses that they teach and at the same time bringing first-hand methods of everyday law to the students. Management INCE the Management Department was organized in 1916 under the direction of Prof. Lee Galloway, increased attention is being directed to the Held of industrial relations in universi- ties all over the country. At present, with Prof. IfVilliam B. Cornell at the head, the work of the Management and Industrial Department at the School of Commerce covers a broad field. Its aim is two-fold: first, to lay clown the basic principles of business organization and management, second, to show the application of these principles in the various fields of business, in production, in office manage- ment, in purchasing, and in industrial relations. The program of the department is designed so that the student trained in management becomes familiar with the activities and general workings of each department in a business, with certain tech- niques and methods employed, and with the rela- tionship which the departments hold one to another and to the business as a whole. In this way the stu- dent gains a true perspective of business. He also becomes familiar with labor problems and methods of solving them, with problems of supervision and leadership, and with the methods of handling them. i Wlhile there has been no radical change in the f teaching techniques of the Management Department, f there has been an increased emphasis on the social , , si nificance of certain trends and advances in busi- Mfilliam B. Cornell g . ness. Clmzrmzm 29