Vanderbilt University - Commodore Yearbook (Nashville, TN)

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all the schools of the University have been consolidated within the area of the original campus. T wo disastrous fires have occurred within the history of the University. College Hall was destroyed in 1905; it was replaced in 1906 by the present fireproof structure. In 1932 Wesley I fall burned down, with the loss ol much ol its valuable theological library; it has not been replaced. Graduate instruction has been a part of the program of anderbilt I University since its founding in 1875. The degrees of M.A., M.S., M.E., Ph.D., and D.Sc. were listed in the earliest catalogues. The degrees of Master of Arts and Master of Science have been given continuously without intermission. The degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science were discontinued in 1923 because the faculty concluded that library and instruc- tional facilities were not adequate to warrant granting them. In 1927 an increase in teach- ing force, in library facilities, and in scientific equipment was secured, with the result that work beyond the Master’s degree was resumed in certain departments. Under the plan adopted at that time, graduate instruction was organized as a department and administered by a University committee. This committee supervised all graduate in- struction offered by the College of Arts and Sciences and by the professional schools. This plan continued in operation until 1935, when by order of the Board of Trust the Graduate School was formed with a faculty of thirty-three members, selected on the basis of administrative responsibility and participation in graduate instruction. This number was increased later to forty by the addition of associate professors who give graduate courses. The Graduate Committee was abolished and in its place an Executive Council of the Graduate Faculty was organized. The Dean of the Graduate School and Senior College was appointed and graduate instruction was organized as a separate school. Addition ol buildings and funds to the University property was very slow for the first quarter ot a century; since then it has been more rapid. Some important benefactions by ( 161

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I he history of the I niversitv with respect to its component schools or departments has been varied. The t’niversitv began with four general departments: Academic. Biblical. I aw, and Medical. It also began, whether it liked or not. with an appendage of Prepara torv Classes; in the absence of eligible college entrants, at a time when the whole educa tional system in the region had broken down, it had first of all to prepare its own appli- cants to do college work. Preparatory classes were discontinued in 18f' '; b that time schools had developed to the point where the I ’niversitv was ready to make the assumption of a supply of proper entrants. In the meantime, in lK 9t the Dental Department and the Detriment of Pharmacy had been added; and a School of I'ngineenng. introduced into the Academic Department in IKKO as one of its constituent branches of instruction, became in 1KK( an independent Engineering Department with a building of its own. In 1915 the I’niversitv overhauled its organization, like other institutions in this period, and adopted the terminology which is in use today. I he old departments became schools, with the exception of the Academic Department, which Ivcame the College of Arts and Science. In 1920 the School of Pharmacv w.is discontinued; in 1926 the School of Den- tistry was suspended. The School of Nursing was established in 1925. At different times the schools of the I Imversitv have been rather wideb scattered over the city of Nashville. For many years the Schools of Medicine and Dentistry were in the busi- ness section; for other years they were situated on a south campus. I he School of l.aw also was long in the business section. But following the completion ot the new Medical Building in 1925, and the suspension of the School of Dentistry in the following year.

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 shmlby c mus H N M A I members of the Vanderbilt family, by other individuals, and by philanthrope foundations, are listed below under another heading. In recent years the alumni, a steadily growing body, working through the office of the Alumni Association. have devoted themselves in- creasingly to the needs of the University. The Alumni Association of Vanderbilt I ’niversity was organized in May, 1879. In 1910. the Association was incorporated under the laws of the State of Tennessee; in 1915, the first full-time alumni secretary was employed. Any former student of the I ’niversity is eligible for membership in the Association upon application to the secretary and upon payment of the regular dues of two dollars per year. The Alumni Association holds its annual meeting in Alumni Memorial 1 fall on Monday of Commencement week. This dav is termed Alumni Day on the University Calendar; upon this occasion, all officers and directors of the Association are elected by ballot. Every two years each member of the Association in good standing may vote for the nomi- nation of at least two alumni trustees on the Kurd of Trust of the I niversity, provided he is a graduate of three years' standing, or, if a non graduate, is a member of a class which has been out of the University as long as three years. Those members eligible to vote are eligible also to serve as alumni trustees, except that no one shall be nominated until his class shall have Iven out of the I 'niversity at least ten years. The official organ of the Association is the I underbill Alumnu . published eight times dur- ing the academic year. This publication is mailed free to every member of the Associa- tion in good standing. The twenty fifth anniversary of the founding of the University was celebrated in 1900; the semi-centennial anniversary during the days of October 1 -18, 19J5. Chancellor James I 1. Kirkland presided over both occasions. In the more than half a century since its foun- dation, Vanderbilt I Jniversitv has had but two chancellors. I andon C. Garland was the first; he vs as succeeded in 1895 by the present chancellor.