University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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Above, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President of the University 21

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ACADEMICS ADMINISTRATION The president of a large university today has to make his university present to the world in all the major ques- tions of the times. Feeling thus, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., spends much of a busy schedule work- ing on important national and international committees studying such modern problems as the peaceful use of atomic energy, civil rights, Latin America and world-wide university development. Working with the most promi- nent men in education, politics, and many other fields, Fr. Hesburgh contributes greatly to the growing inter- national reputation of Notre Dame. As the foremost Catholic university in America, Fr. Hesburgh feels, Notre Dame must lead in providing a Catholic perspective on international issues. A modern Catholic university has to be in the mainstream, and much of the responsibility falls on the president. Thus Fr. Hesburgh this year traveled around the world ten times outside of the United States for meetings of the Atomic Energy Commission, Jerusalem ' s Ecumenical Institute, which Pope Paul asked him to organize, the United States Civil Rights Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Inter- national Federation of Catholic Universities, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also named to the most important committee on higher education in the U.S., the new Carnegie Study of Higher Education, which is headed by ex-University of California president Clark Kerr. On campus, Fr. Hesburgh considers the developments toward a faculty manual and the reorganization of the Board of Trustees as the most significant internal de- velopments this year. Long work on the manual was completed with its approval in late spring by the Aca- demic Council. The manual enlarged the faculty ' s power in guiding the university academically and estab- lished a new faculty senate. The changes in the structure of the University ' s government were prematurely announced in the Ave Maria, explained by Fr. Hesburgh in a 12-page letter to the Notre Dame family, and finally approved at the January chapter meetings of the Indiana Province of Holy Cross priests at the Kellogg Center. The six clerical trustees will elect six of the thirty present lay trustees to serve with them as the Fellows of the University. They will elect themselves and the other members of the lay board to a single Board of Trustees of the University, which will govern the University and elect the president from nominees presented by the congregation. Although in many ways the changes simply legalize the existing situation the two boards had not met sepa- rately since Fr. Hesburgh became president in 1952 the move will deepen lay interests in the University. The new board reflects the kind of world we are send- ing people into, he adds. The progress of Notre Dame, Fr. Hesburgh empha- sizes, must be attributed to the efforts of all elements of the community; the faculty manual and the change in government represent the strengthening of two of these elements. His favorite phrase for this teamwork is The Notre Dame Family The total enthusiasm and spirit of the place is what moves it forward. Yet the vision which directs the University is largely that of the President. From here you have to dream a few dreams, and Fr. Hesburgh ' s dreams include a doctoral program in every department and complete on- campus residence in good living conditions. The foreign studies program begun two years ago will be expanded next year to include Japan, and could someday include Chile and China. Notre Dame will also cooperate much more on graduate level studies with other universities in the Midwest, which is rapidly growing in importance as an educational area; he points out that 30 per cent of the American science doctorates are granted from mid- western institutions. In our own graduate school, there will be a necessary focusing of studies. A school of this size can ' t do everything, Fr. Hesburgh realizes but it must do everything it undertakes extremely well. 20

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As Executive Vice-President, Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., is like a chief of staff of the administration. Acting president during Fr. Hesburgh ' s absences, Fr. Joyce makes many of the day-to-day decisions, and as treasurer of the University, he is involved in all the financial aspects of the school. In practice, Fr. Joyce spends very little time on academic matters and is primarily concerned with business matters. Before becoming a priest, he re- ceived his C.P.A., and shortly after his ordination he served as vice-president for business affairs. To Fr. Joyce, this was a rather normal year very busy, very much done, but outside of the change in governance, nothing really special. Like most mem- bers of the administration, however, he tends to think in longer time spans than individual years. With some pride, he notes that since Fr. Hesburgh and he came into office together some fifteen years ago, the University ' s endowment has increased six-fold, to over fifty million dollars. Although he would prefer to see it closer to 300 million, the increase is considerable. As chairman of the building committee, the execu- tive vice-president is also concerned with the growth of Notre Dame ' s physical plant. Completed this year was the new post office, and still under construction are the Athletic and Convocation Center, the linear accelerator and the new Lobund Center, all of which necessitate an expensive steam plant enlargement. But the greatest hope of the building program, awaiting only sufficient private or government fund- ing, are the new dormitories. Without a concrete bud- get, details remain incomplete, but architect ' s plans call for six, eight or ten story dorms, located in a circle between the library and Stepan Center. Small floors of twenty-five students each will feature com- mon lounges and variety in room sizes, with com- pletely movable furniture. Lounge and activities areas will occupy the entire basement and first floor of each dorm. Although one of the purposes of the new dorms is to bring more students on campus, overcrowding in present halls will also be alleviated, and renova- tions of the older dorms is part of the overall program. Fr. Joyce also chairs the Faculty Board of Athletics, which occupies a relatively small part of his schedule. Assistant to the President George N. Shuster is the only man at Notre Dame who is a member of both the faculty and the Board of Trustees. As a member of the trustees ' development board and in working closely with Fr. Hesburgh on University policy, Dr. Shuster is able to consider in broad, long range terms the philosophy of the University and its pro- grams. To these considerations, he brings a long background in education and scholarship, including the presidency of Hunter College. This year, Dr. Shus- ACADEMICS ADMINISTRATION ter completed work on a study of Catholic primary and secondary education. Dr. Shuster has general responsibility for the Cen- ter for the Study of Man in Contemporary Society, founded as a result of the original Ford Foundation grant under Challenge I. With eleventh floor Library offices, the Center is making studies in such fields as urban life population research and Latin American concerns. At the Catholic University of Peru, Notre Dame has agreed to help in the natural sciences, both in setting up a curriculum and training pro- fessors and in overall administration. Excepting the government-supported Lobund and Atomic Energy research, Dr. Shuster feels Notre Dame ' s humanities research compares favorably with the sciences. But the Center ' s plans call for an in- crease in scope to include the scientific implications of its concerns as well. Among the general projections with which Dr. Shuster is concerned are relations with St. Mary ' s College and development within the field of lan- guages. He feels that the University will pursue a much more intimate relationship with St. Mary ' s, as in this year ' s combination of the schools ' theaters and a planned interrelationship of the music depart- ments. Although the cooperation could extend to fund-raising, Dr. Shuster feels that such difficulties as faculty salary differences and Notre Dame ' s greater research consciousness will prevent any complete merger. But he definitely envisages St. Mary ' s stu- dents being able to receive a Notre Dame degree. A committee of distinguished visitors recently stud- ied the language departments, and their evaluations are expected to suggest improvements in language opportunities here. A basic difficulty is that students interested in language majors do not apply to Notre Dame, while faculty are seldom satisfied with exclu- sively lower division courses. Development in the theology department has already stimulated some interest in Hebrew, however, and the growing foreign studies program next year to include Austria, France and Japan, and soon Chile is expected to increase advanced-level interest. Dr. Shuster considers the University ' s most out- standing improvements to be the recruiting of young faculty and top undergraduates. Our weak spot is the cohesion of the student body; if a student isn ' t out- going, he can be awfully lonely here. Another great problem is the general lack of cultural awareness among students. The administration will strongly sup- port any student-initiated project, he emphasized, but considering the lack of student participation in already given activities, they are not sure what else they can do. 22