University of Mississippi - Ole Miss Yearbook (Oxford, MS)

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were I5 professors and instructors, the total annual revenues were less than S40,000, the buildings were dilapidated, and the Uni- versity was in need of all things. During the last session, 1905-6, under his administration, there were enrolled 36l University stu- dents, there were 31 professors and instructors, and the total rev- enues of the University were over S580,000, with other funds available for new buildings to be erected. Besides these improve- ments, he had, after obtaining the written approval of a majority of the board, secured in l905 the offer of a handsome library building from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, which offer was afterwards declined by the board. He secured from individual friends in and out of the State funds for the Summer School, and for prizes and other current needs of the institution. Chancellor Fulton has been thrice honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws, holding this honor from the University of Nash- ville, South Carolina College, and the University of Alabama. Dr. Fulton has been prominent in all educational work in and out of the State. He took the initiative in organizing the National As- sociation of State Universities, including the presidents of forty State universities, and was for live successive years elected pres- ident of the association, which at its meeting in November, l905, had the presidents of thirty-nine State universities present. He was president of the Richmond meeting of the Southern Educational Association, and was president of the Department of Higher Edu- cation, of the National Educational Association, at its Los Angeles meeting, of which association he is a director and a member of the Council. He is a member of a number of scientific societies, and a fellow by election of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and has represented his Church on several occasions in the General As- sembly and in the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Mississippi Historical Society, and a trustee of the Department of Archives and History, and was an active member of the State commission in charge of the geolog- ical survey of Mississippi. One who was long actively associated with him in the Uni- versity of Nlississippi characterizes him as scholarly, yet practicalg versatile, yet accurate, energetic, tactful, and systematicg Chancel- lor Fulton, in addition to his thorough acquaintance with the history and needs of the University, possesses a combination of gifts and attainments which fits him in a high degree for the office which he has filled so ably. , ' The Board of Trustees of the University on April 3, l906, adopted the following, which is of record: Resolved, That the Board of Trustees extends to Chancellor Fulton its entire confidence, and unhesitatingly pronounces him to be eminently worthy of the exalted position he holds in the University of Mississippi. A sim- ilar regard was expressed by the Faculty of the University of last October, and by hundreds of those who had been students under him in the University. In his college days Chancellor Fulton was a member of the Chi Psi Fraternity, which has had no chapter at the University for many years. Without bias or prejudice in his administration, he strove to be just to all, and was ever the friend of the poor boy struggling for an education. The Alumni Loan Fund was founded at his instance. Still in full vigor, he has taken up the administra- tion of the affairs of the noted Miller School in Virginia, founded for this class of boys, who have always had his interest and sympathy. That he had to face and overcome many difficulties in his great work at the University of Mississippi goes without saying. His deep and abiding interest in the main purpose of his work, the ad- vancement of the University of Mississippi in all that makes for the uplift of the State, left no place in his mind for bitterness toward any who differed with him or strove against his work. No change of affairs can mar the record of his achievements for his Alma Mater, every blade of grass and every stone on whose grounds, as well as every person connected with her, he was known to love. W.

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ROBERT BURWELL FULTON, A.M., LL.D. Student in University of Mississippi, 1866-1869: A.B., with first honor, 1869: A.M., 1873: Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 1871: Adjunct Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 18735 Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 18755 Chancellor of the University, 1892-1006. Dr. R. B. Fulton was born in Sumter County, Alabama, in April, IB49. His father was a prosperous planter, who believed in giving his sons the best educational opportunities. Dr. Fulton was taught at home until in his thirteenth year he entered an Acad- emy at Pleasant.,Ridge, Greene County, Alabama, where he stud- ieclithree years until the spring of IS65. In l865-6 he studied in the private school of Rev. C. M. l-lutlm, and in the fall of IS66 entered the Sophomore class in the University of Mississippi. In I869 he graduated with the highest rank and first honors in an unusually strong class of twenty-one men. After an experience of a session and a half in teaching in high schools in Alabama and in New Orleans, he was offered the place of Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Uni- versity, and entered upon the duties of this position March 5, l87l. I-le served the University 1 of Mississippi continuously from that date to the time of his resignation in September, l906, giv- ing the longest period of service of any man ever connected with the institution. 'That his service during these years was uniformly suc- cessful is shown by the fact that it was rendered under various ad- ministrations and under varying conditions, and that it led to con- tinuous promotion. A former professor in the University expressed what is generally known of Chancellor Fulton when he wrote that with a long term of service ranging from tutorship to chancellor- ship, no man knows the institution so'thoroughly as he, or has la- bored longer or more successfully for its Lipbuildingf' Of the more important events and lines-of progress that char- acterized his administration the following may be cited: Q11 The abolishing of preparatory classes in I892g Q21 the inauguration in l893 of summer terms that drew altogether over 2,000 individual teachers to the University: Q31 the securing from Congress, by his own initiative and efforts, of agrant of 23,040 acres of land for the University in l894, which has added Sl0,000 to the annual revenues of the University, and which opened the way to other grants to the other colleges of the State, which grants have put over 5600.000 into the State treasury in the last six years for the benefit of these institutionsg Q41 the development of a system of public and other high schools affiliated with the University, now numbering over 80, in which preparation for University classes is given: Q51 the enlargement and beautifying of the University grounds, the introduction of Waterworks, sewerage, electric lights, steam heating: Q61 the repairing of old and the erection of new buildings, and the increase of scientific equipment that has more than doubled the value of the plant: Q71 the enlargement from a col- lege to a university curriculum by the establishment of departments of Engineering QCivil, Mining, and E.lectrical1, Education, and Med- icine. In 1892 there were I57 University students enrolled, there 1

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