University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

Page 33 text:

BLUEd GOLD FRANK PROBERT, Dean of the College of Mining is almost as well known to the general campus as to his own col- lege partly by virtue of the fact that he has been the principal speaker at the Freshman Rally since the death of Henry Morse Stephens. He has welcomed every freshman class for the last seven years. For the same length of time. Dean Probert has officiated over the transference of the guardianship of the Big C to the new Sophomore Class, a ceremony which takes place after the other exercises of Charter Day. Moreover, as Guardian of the Big C Society, the Dean as- sists in the initiation of all new members to that organization. In his own students, the Dean has taken an interest which has extended even beyond college days and problems, for most graduates of this school receive their first positions through his efforts. As a result of its fine work, the College of Mining has come to be recognized as outstanding so that the requests for its students is always in advance of the number which have graduated. There are at present one hundred fifty men enrolled here, with an ever increasing number doing graduate work. Of the types of work, mining and petroleum absorb eighty per cent of the enrollment. Practical work during the summer months is a requirement. Dean Probert received the degree of Associate of the Royal School of Mines in London in 1897. For twenty years he has been Dean of the College. During the years 1917-1919 Dean Probert was a member of the special commission on war minerals investigation for the United States Bureau of Mines, and later a member of the American mining mission to Europe for investigation of mineral industry and reparation in northern France. Among organizations to which Dean Probert belongs are the San Francisco Engineers, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Golden Bear, Society of Winged Helmet, and Phi Phi. H. PEOBEKT DEAN or THE COLLEGE or MINING MINING STUDENTS AT Wor 29

Page 32 text:

BLUEd GOLD H AVING received his degree at the University of Maine, Elmer D. Merrill, present Dean of the College of Agriculture, attended George Washington University for a year. There he studied in the Department of Medicine. He was assistant in the natural sciences at the University of Maine for a year. After that, in 1902, he went to the Philip- pine Islands where he spent twenty-two years in botanical investigation. While there he was connected with the Bureau of Agriculture, and later he held a professorship at the Uni- versity of the Philippine Islands. During the last four years of his stay he was Director of the Bureau of Science in Manila, the institution in which all the scientific work of the Philip- pines is centralized. Dean Merrill is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Deutsche Botanische Geselschaft. This latter organization is a botanical society of high rank, and but four or five American botanists have had the honor of being elected to it. Merrill has written numerous articles on botany among these is a book on the Flora of the Philip- pine Islands, and an Enumeration of Bornean Plants. He was also editor of the Philippine Journal of Science. As Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of the University experiment station, which positions Merrill accepted in 1923 upon his return from the tropics, he is responsible for the administra- tion of the entire College of Agriculture. This consists of the department of Berkeley, the branch at Davis and the University Experiment Station at Riverside, besides the Agr iculture Extension service. One of the most interesting of the recent developments at the experimental station, according to the Dean, is the culmination of the investigation on the reclaiming of alkaline soil. Experiment in this line has been carried on for many years and it has now been demonstrated that certain types of alkaline soil may be reclaimed. This fact will be found of great value to all agricultural interests, says Dean Merrill, and will probably result in the reclaiming of much land which is now useless. ELMER D. MERRILL DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY BOTANICAL GARDENS 28

Page 34 text:

BLUEd GOLD Co ' J ou 1896, Charles Derleth, Jr., Dean of the College of Civil Engineering, has practised Civil Engineering with- out interruption parallel to his teaching duties. As Con- sulting Engineer to the Supervising Architect, Professor John Galen Howard, he assisted in the construction of a majority of the new buildings on the University Campus, including the Sather Tower. Dean Derleth is at present Chief Engineer of the Carquinez Highway Bridge and is Consulting Engineer for the Oakland Estuary Tunnel. He has contributed numerous articles on engineering subjects to technical journals and to engineering society transactions. Dean Derleth received his B. S. degree in 1894 from the College of the city of New York, and two years later took the degree of C. E. from Columbia University. From 1896 to 1901 he was instructor and lecturer in Civil Engineering at that university. In 1903 he came to California as Professor of Struc- tural Engineering, and since 1907 he has been Professor of Civil Engineering, as well as Dean of that College. Upper division work in the College of Engineering, roughly classified, includes courses in railroad and highway engineer- ing, hydraulics and geodetic surveying, with their related problems as well as those of framed and masonry structures and public health; sanitary science, including character and sanitation of the water supply, sanitation of buildings, and problems of sewage and municipal waste engineering. In connection with this latter group, the department cooperates with several others such as those of Medicine, Bacteriology, Animal Industry, and Hygiene. In attempting to foster an intelligent public opinion on this subject, the state officials are helped immensely by the assistance rendered by the instructors of this department. The college of Engineering offers a special summer class in railroad surveying to upper division students. The course begins the Monday preceding Commencement and lasts four weeks, the site of the camp being near Fairfax, Marin County. CHARLES DERLEFH, JR. DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OP CIVIL ENGINEERING CIVIL ENGINEERING SUMMER CAMP 30