Oregon State University - Beaver Yearbook (Corvallis, OR)

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;ageamiB!aB ? :.ani|,j{;. i ■ Dean of Men ' s Message Difficulties were challenges to the men and women who blazed the unbroken path later known as the Oregon Trail. The prospect of hardships, suffering and even death, made the project only more commanding to those whose objective was not only a bigger, freer, more wholesome life opportunity for themselves, but also the establishment of a great oppor- tunity for a nation and a civilization. They did not pose as heroes. They did only what real men of their time naturally did. They felt the call in the opportunity and in the need. Why should they give heed to difficulties, hard- ships and dangers? We are the benefactors. We live in com- parative ease and luxur y, and yet if the civiliza- tion they made possible is to come to full fru- ition, possibly even to endure, great prob- lems must be faced and solved. Magnificent frontiers — social, economic and spiritual — must be opened. Does the thrilling example of the Oregon Trail pathfinders intrigue us? Are our spirits attuned to hear the call of oppor- tunity and need? If the call comes, will our equipment and courage be equal to the demands? Dean U. G. Duback Dr. U. G. DUBACH Dr. KATE W. JAMESON Dean of Women ' s Message When we read the story of the Oregon Trail, we are inclined to think that the frontier has passed and the days of pioneering are over. This may be true in the physical realm, but not in the realm of education. Every woman who has enjoyed the training for practical living, for homemaking, for child care, given by this school is actually a pioneer in a new field of education. Let her go fearlessly on teaching by word of mouth, by conduct, and by quiet influence, the value of such training. She too will meet any difficulties and be misunder- stood, but of her we can truly say with the poet: Because the road was steep and long. And through a dark and lonely land, God set upon her lips a song And put a lantern in her hand. As a pioneer of today, she will in a sense then complete the great work begun by her forbears of the Oregon Trail. (Mrs.) K. W. Jameson 19.

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■Ng UHtuuH 5 M ' 3 Dr. W. J. KERR Dr.Willidm Jasper Kerr For 24 years Dr. William Jasper Kerr has ad- ministrated the affairs of Oregon State college. When he came to Corvallis in 1907, the only buildings on the campus were the administra- tion building, the chemistry building, the old gymnasium, and a wooden dormitory where the dairy building now stands. The appearance of the campus today is ample proof of his untiring efforts to make the institution one of greater significance in the educational world. He has built the college from a school of little importance to one now recognized as among the three best agricul- tural colleges in the United States. It was he who visualized the plans for the new build- ings and their locations, and saw to it that his vision was made an actuality through legisla- tive enactment. In addition to his services to the state of Oregon he has received nation wide recognition for his activities as president of the Land Grant College association, vice- president of the National Council of Educa- tion and a member of the national board of the y. M. C. A. A few years ago he was awarded the degree of doctor of science by the University of Idaho. President Kerr s Message The traditions of the Old Oregon trail are among the most heroic in North America. Two motives actuated the immigrants to Ore- gon — the lure of the Willamette Valley as an El Dorado for the homeseeker, and the patri- otic purpose of settling the Oregon country for the United States. Between the old home land of the pioneers and their new dream land bordering the Pacific, lay a virtual wilder- ness — vast, uninhabited, unexplored. Their struggles and privations in breaking a trail across these barriers of prairie, desert, and mountain, tell a story almost unparalleled in picturesqueness and grandeur. After a cen- tury we begin to get a full perspective on the significance of their great migrations. They developed, in fact, a region so fortunate in climate and natural resources that a distin- guished authority. Dr. J. Russell Smith, of Columbia, predicts that here, in time, Ameri- can civilization will reach its maximum. In this Northwest, continues Dr. Smith, I antici- pate that, man for man, Americans will eventu- ally realize their achievements — in science, literature, and arts. A splendid destiny. But it will not come of itself. Only the courageous leadership of the rising generation, ins pired by the example of the pioneers, will bring the Oregon country into its magnificent heritage. WILLIAM JASPER KERR President Kerr, in Study rl8.

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—3 Rb( Cordley Beneil Peavy Ziefle Milam Smith Jewell Rogers Hance Langton Patterson Deans Instruction in scientific agriculture on the coast began at the college in 1873. Dr. A. B. Cordley, who joined the staff as entomologist in 1895, has served as dean since the depart- ment was developed into a school in 1907. Commercial courses, which were offered at the college even before it received its land grant in 1868, were organized into a school with J. A. Bexell as the first dean in 1908. George W. Peavy was made dean of for- estry when the former department of forestry became a school in 1910, courses in the sub- ject having been offered for four years pre- viously. Regular four-year work in pharmacy was not established until 1907, though the de- partment had been organized since 1898. Dean Adolph Ziefle, who came to the col- lege in 1914, was made dean in 1917. The first training in home economics in the west was offered at the college in 1889 by Dr. Margaret Snell. A steady development which has made the school an outstanding one in the country may be attributed to the leadership of Dean Ava B. Milam since 1911. Whenthevarious service departments of the college were organized as a school in 1918, Dr. M. Ellwood Smith, who had served in the department for three years was made the first dean of the new school as well as director of the summer session. A department of industrial pedagogy de- veloped, with the enactment of the Smith- Hughes act, into the school of vocational education in 1918. Dr. J. R. Jewell came to the institution as dean in 1927. The school of engineering had its beginning in 1889, the first in its field on the coast. In 1927 Dean hi. S. Rogers, who had been head of the department of civil engineering for seven years, was made dean of the school. Mining was offered as a four-year course in 1902 for the first time. Dr. J. H. Hance took over the reins as dean in 1928, having been consulting geologist and engineer to the state of Illinois. With the reorganization of the two physical education departments and the health service into one school in 1929, Dr. Clair V. Lang- ton, formerly head of physical education work for men, was made dean of health and physi- cal education. The Reserve Officers Training Corps is headed by Colonel H. R. Patterson. 20.