Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

Page 17 text:

A very easy man to talk with — that is the consensus of opinion about OU ' s President Baker. And, when students come to talk with President Baker — and many do — they find a man with a sparkle in his eyes, and engaging smile and a friendly attitude. Because President Baker believes there should exist at Ohio University a friendly two-way relationship between teachers and students, he consults with all students who wish to see him. Although his hair is turning gray, he is still young enough in spirit to realize the student ' s viewpoint. He wants OU students to be treated as individuals, and not pushed through school on an assembly line basis. He talks self-education both to faculty and students. President Baker ' s great ambition is to make this one of the best universities in the nation. He hopes that OU students will use their training to achieve personal satisfaction and to serve the communities in which they live. He took office on May 1 I, 1945, in a simple inauguration patterned after the inaugural of OU ' s fourth president, William Holmes McGuffey. Since then, OU has, under his leadership, achieved wide recognition in the educational field. During his administration the greatest building program in the history of the university has been undertaken. President Baker ' s few moments of leisure around Athens are spent in riding, tennis, walking, and on week ends with his children. Probably at the same time ( many students believe) he is thinking of new plans for improving OU. Both Ohio University and President Baker look forward to even greater progress in the future than has occurred in past years. ind certain we shall leave here prepared.

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President John Calhoun Baker casts proud glances to OU ' s great future; he is ambitious, pride-swollen. H

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Leona Dean of Women Leona Felsted emphasizes that her office is not a cloistered retreat where maladjusted students steal in to bare their neuroses, but rather a friendly place where all kinds of people come to discuss all kinds of problems. Few welcomed to her informal office could doubt that, and a talk with the affable dean would convince the most stubborn. Pressed to talk about herself, she may surprise new acquaintances by recounting ex- periences on camping trips with her son in Colorado, where she spends nights in the open in a sleeping bag! She dearly loves to ride a good western horse across rolling plains, and hopes someday to own a ranch in the West. There she could also devote some time to needlework and experiments in cooking, the phases of homemaking she most enjoys. Dean Felsted retains an understanding of the teacher ' s problems by conducting a semi- nar for graduate students. And through her work as Dean of Girls in Portsmouth, Ohio, and as Dean of Women here, it is apparent that she has a great understanding of the student ' s problems.