Oregon State University - Beaver Yearbook (Corvallis, OR)

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IBoart) of Regents of the (Oregon Agricultural College and EXPERIMENT STATION. I Ion. J. K. Weatiikkpoku. President...........................Albany I Ion. E. E. Wilson, Secretary..............................Corvallis lloN. It. F. Irvine, Treasurer...............................Portland EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS lloN. F. W. Benson, Governor and Secretary of State .... Salem Hon. J. H. Ackerman, Supt. of Public Instruction................Salem I Ion. Austin T. Buxton, Master of State Grange . . . Forest Grove APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR TERM EXPIRES. Hon. John I). Oi.wki.i............................Central Point, 1912 Hon. Wii.i.iam W. Cotton...............................Portland, 1912 Hon. Walter M. Pierce...............................La Grande, 1912 Mrs. Clara H. Waldo.....................................Macleay, 1915 Hon. E. E. Wilson.....................................Corvallis. 1915 Hon. B. F. Irvine......................................Portland. 1915 Hon. J. T. Apperson..................................Park-place. 1918 Hon. J. K. Weatherford...................................Albany, 191S Hon. C. L. Hawley.........................................McCoy, 1918 9

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The buildings arc thoroughly supplied with equipment with which to demonstrate in technical work; and to increase the supply, the institution lias expended the sum of $00,000 within the past year. The regular courses offered include Agriculture, Forestry, Domestic Science and Art, Mechanical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Civil Engineering. Electrical Engineering, Pharmacy, Commerce. The new courses recently added arc Veterinary Science, and Industrial Pedagogy. During the winter a six-week's course in Agriculture, Horticulture, and Domestic Science is given; also a summer school of six weeks' duration is conducted for the preparation of teachers in the public and high schools. The members of the faculty are thoroughly and professionally trained for their vocation, having, in most cases, taken both under-graduate and graduate work in the large universities and technical schools of the East. They are reputed for their ability and skill in original research, the result of their investigations being given in the Station Bulletins, from time to time. An article of this kind would be incomplete without making mention of the cadet corps. Under the wise and efficient management of Captain U. (1. M'cAlexander the student regiment has attained a high standing; the last government inspection showing that it. with two Eastern Universities, ranks ahead of all other schools of its kind in point of military efficiency. The War Department is to lx thanked and the institution is to be congratulated on the fact that Captain McAlexander’s term of service at the O. A. C. has been extended one year, beginning August 15, 1910. A mark of the influence exercised by the institution over student life is the loyalty of the student body to every institutional interest. The extent to which the institution has endeared itself to the classmen is shown by visible tokens to be seen here and there on the campus. There are stone steps, stone seats, a fountain, a park, and a steel flag pole; and among the projects for the future arc a band stand and an alumnal arch. There is no greater attestation of their loyalty, however, than their constant devotion to high ideals. This is exemplified by the summary manner in which they have consigned to perpetual banishment the barbarous practice of hazing. The skill with which President Kerr has handled the problems arising in the varied college activities is deserving of the highest praise. The institu tion has expanded symmetrically to large proportions. The enrollment of sixteen hundred students in its various departments is indicative of its progress. As the end of the school year approaches, the subject that engrosses attention and conversation is Commencement. If the Commencement seasons of past years have been made memorable by their events and associations, much more is this years’ graduating week destined to be so remembered, not only by the Class of ’10. but by the host of men and women who claim the O. A. C. as their alma mater. The ensuing week of weeks will be eventful by reason of its elaborate programme, and the concourse of distinguished persons who are to participate in the ceremonies. The Quarter Centennial celebration now l eing planned, to occur simultaneously with the events of Commencement week, is deserving of every assistance that faculty, students, and friends can render, in order that it may be a commemoration truly indicative of the progressive spirit of the institution. 8

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$re£tbent err William Jasper Kerr came to this state in the summer of 1907 and became a candidate for the presidency of the Oregon Agricultural College. He was introduced by college and university presidents, prominent educators, pastors of churches, journalists and men of high standing in public and private life as a man “of adequate scholarship . . of splendid character, of great executive and administrative ability . . . “a capable educator and a sincere and true Christian gentleman. The regents, conscious of the significance which attached to the choice of the executive who was to direct the course of an institution which promised to have such a powerful influence in moulding the welfare of the commonwealth, after a thorough investigation, unanimously elected him president of the College. The members of the college community and the people of the state, with characteristic American self-reliance, wished him well but suspended judgment. It is the belief of the writer of this sketch that he is not in any way creating but only fa.rly and honestly recording the verdict of the community which suspended judgment in the beginning in order that it might know the truth m ns own way. The verdict pronounced after the passage of three years is here presented without hesitation and without qualification because with exceptional unanimity a community of citizens, students and faculty members, acting with independent judgment, have arrived at the same conclusion. Hr. Kerr qu.ckly grasped the essentials of his problem and vigorously proceeded with its solution. The institution was entirely reorganized, the faculty strengthened; the buildings and equipment were added to and improved; tne standard of the instructional work was raised; the problems of the state relating to material progress were investigated and adopted. Today the College is recognized as one of the strongest of its kind and is pulsing in hanuony with the vigorous heart-throbs of Oregon and the West. I he moiing spit it in this great work is the President. His unbounded entmisiasm, his exceptional capacity for work, his ample learning and his gum lie .sympathy have served at once as an inspiration and as an example. He demands results from the mcmbeis of the faculty but in return he imposes confidence and trust, and judges wi.h consideration and fairness. He exacts respect and obedience and earnest endeavor from the students but meets tnem with perfect understanding and keen sympathy. He handles the foreign affairs of the College in a manner that has won for him respect ai.d honor from men of affairs in the state and in the nation. He is one of those rare men who unde.stand b. th people and conditions. With this knowledge of work done, and with these facts learned from observation of the methods used, and by contact with the man, the college community has arrived at a verdict which is in absolute harmony with his introduction and which, simply stated, is that ‘‘Dr. Kerr is a brilliant scholar, an able executive and a true gentleman. And now two organizations representing the highest ideals in American educational endeavor seem to have arrived at the same conclusion; for l)r. Kerr has been elected Vice-President of the National Educational Association and President of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 10