San Jose State College - La Torre Yearbook (San Jose, CA)

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HOME ECONOMICS-DR. M. C. ,I ONES. For over thirty years the home economics department has held a place of importance among Cali- fornia colleges for its training of homemaking teachers and dietitians. Courses are planned to satisfy several different objectives: professional, vocational and avocational. Our faculty is looking forward to the develop- ment of graduate courses, the first of which will be offered in the l950 summer session. Ways are being studied to strengthen the graduate pro- gram and benefit students interested in attaining the master's degree. INDUSTRIAL ARTS-DR. H. A. SOTZIN. Industrial Arts had its in- ception on this campus in 1887, seven years after the first Manual Train- ing School was established. Initially a room was fitted with tools to do simple woodwork and the work was optional. ln 1912, the first students were certiied to teach Industrial Arts. Today, the department is the largest on the Pacific Coast. Six hundred majors, minors, technical and graduate students are enrolled. The demands for the graduates has always exceeded the supply. JOURNALISM-MR. DWIGHT BENTEL. Since its establishment in 1935 the Journalism Department has grown to one of the largest in the West. Its 275 majors swarm in and out of the barracks, where six full-time and seven part-time instructors teach the who, what, when, where, and why of editorial and advertising practice. Spartan Daily, La Torre, and Lyke emerge from department typewriters, darkrooms, and drawing boards. The training of young men and women who will contribute to the progress of the American press is the department's chief objective.

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ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT-DR. RALPH J. SMITH. The Engi- neering Department is the youngest division of the College. In four years of operation, courses have been established, faculty organized, temporary laboratories set up, and instruction provided for increasing numbers of students. At present there are 527 majors including 381 in Engineering, 68 in Aeronautics, 64 in Industrial Technology and 14 in Technical pro- grams. A new building has been designed and is scheduled for early completion. However, the 1950 seniors will treasure memories of the tin huts. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT--DR. R. W. BARRY. The English Depart- ment has grown from a nucleus of five instructors, who also taught speech, in 1923 to a faculty of thirty-one in 1949. In the autumn quarter 3,917 students were enrolled in 135 classes. The department has been authorized to offer graduate courses for the M.A. degree. The income from Senator Phelan's bequest of ten thousand dollars is awarded annually to students distinguishing themselves in creative writ- ing. Prize-winning contributions are published in The Reed. HEALTH AND HYGIENE DEPARTMENT-MARGARET M. TWOM- BLY. To those students who understood our problem of serving eight thou- sand students, in space and with personnel adequate for two thousandg to those who waited patiently for their turn whether it were half an hour or several weeks away, and to those who answered our 4'Sorry. We can't do that for you, with a word of understanding, goes the appreciation of the entire Health Department in this most crowded of school years.

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LIBRARY-MISS JOYCE BACKUS. The library was established in 1872 by an appropriation of 351,000 lts collections survived the destruction of the Normal School buildings in 1880, and 1906. Between 1.906 and 1912 the library occupied a temporary building in the quadrangle. The present reserved book room served library needs until 1925. ln ten years the library expanded into five additional rooms. The present building is one wing of the planned college library. The collection grew from 2,000 volumes in 1879 to 110,000 in 1949. MATHEMATICS-DR. W. HOWARD MYERS. The Mathematics Depart- ment is an academic department with strength unequalled in any other of the state colleges and in few of the universities of the state. In function the department has outgrown its original purpose of train- ing prospective elementary teachers although this service still is provided. The programs leading to the M.A. degree and the general secondary teach- ing credential are now in operation, and in addition there are curricula in pure and applied mathematics leading to the A.B. degree in mathe- matics. MODERN LANGUAGES-MR. L. C. NEWBY. The Modern Language Department was organized in 1923. The first year there were 49 students in four classes of Spanish and French-one instructor. The next year Ger- man was added-still one instructor. Since that period the department has grown until at present there arc 13 instructors and a thousand students taking courses in French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Russian. The de- partment has always emphasized thc development of the students' ability to speak the foreign language.