Bethany College - Bethanian Yearbook (Bethany, WV)

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definite contribution both in and out of the class- room. Our student assistants play an important part in successful departmental operation. They are selected on the basis of scholarship, primarily scholarship in all subjects, and on dependability. This year we have James Steele, senior fellow , Robert Spray, senior, Charles Cormany, junior, Chester Gordon, James Ryan, Betty Caugherty and Jay Lohr, sophomores. Mr. Dawson has just completed eight years of work at Bethany, for six years in charge of de- partmental policies. His undergraduate work at Denison university, was completed in 1916, and was followed by five years with the Canadian Explosives as a works chemist, supervisor in charge of acetone and alcohol recovery, assistant and superintendent of cordite lines at the British Cordite plant (Cordite is the British smokeless powder), and after the war some two years as chief chemist at their Beloeil plant. On return- ing to the United States he became a high school principal and then served five years as superin- tendent of a consolidated school system near Toledo, Ohio. Each summer he did graduate work at Ohio State university in the department of chemistry, where in 1928 and 1929 he was a graduate assistant. He came to Bethany in 1930 to substitute for Professor Johnson who was on a nine month ' s leave of absence. The success of any program, college, depart- mental or industrial, must rest primarily on the success of its product, in our case, its alumni. It is too early to evaluate recent results very accur- ately, but for chemistry the outlook appears bright. Contrary to the opinion held by many persons, there is an extremely high correlation be- tween undergraduate work and what the individ- uals do after graduation. We are sorry that is it impracticable to include all of our graduates of recent years, but a number are listed whose activities might interest you, and because these activities do have bearing on the case in point. To give an incomplete picture of our more re- cent graduates: A number are holding chemistry assistantships. Harry Sykes is at Syracuse; Frank continued to page 29 1. Individualized instruction by Mr. Miller in the physical chemistiy class. 2. Members of the analytic chemistry class make observations in the balance room. 3. Prof. Dawson demonstrates an experiment to the organic chemistry class. 4. Tom Rogers studies a gas in analyti- cal chemistry.

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Professor Dawson Head of Department supported the program, no easy task during a pro- longed depression. The department possesses at present a store- room well stocked with chem- icals and supplies for routine work at the undergraduate level, and students can obtain everything which is essential for their work. The physical chemistry lab- oratories are a relatively new development, and it has been the departmental policy to add one or two permanent pieces of equipment to this area each year. Consequently this labor- atory now contains such new apparatus as a Spencer spectrometer convertible to a spectro- graph, a Parr-calorimeter, a hydrophile balance for Langmuir oil film experiments, an alpha ray track apparatus, an Abbe refractometer, a polar- imeter, a du Nouy tensiometer, a potentiometer and many smaller units. Within recent vears a new gas analysis apparatus and Muffle furnace have been added to the analytical department which already had a Braun electrolytic apparatus. The shop contains a wood-metal lathe, taps, dies, motor-driven grinder and various small hand tools where new apparatus may be made. In fact, much of the physical chemistry equipment has been turned out by students working on N Y A or as departmental assistants. A modern trained chemist does not necessarily require as many books as one might think; he must, however, be a constant reader of current literature. In this respect the department has probably made more progress than in physical equipment. Some twenty standard journals are being received and placed on the shelves in the departmental library on the third floor of Ogle- bay hall. These journals are so selected as to give general chemical information in English, German and French and make available journals suitable for beginning students as well as upper- classmen. A few more are needed, and most of the journals require binding. All books are kept in the main library. In curriculum, a summary will show that the student has available a first year general course in chemistry, then by careful selection may ac- quire organic chemistry on three yearly levels, that is to say as much as 18 semester hours, ana- lytical on three yearly levels, and, after the pres- ent year, two years of physical chemistry. He may Mr. Milter Instructor in Chemistry secure special courses, such as a survey of indus- trial chemistry with field trips; last year the trip was made to the Charleston district. There are also courses in chemical litera- ture, special methods of teach- ing and minor research prob- lems. With the present staff these offerings are made possi- ble by yearly alteration of some courses. The problems courses have yielded since their introduction, a number of undergraduate papers, three of which have been presented by the students themselves before t h e state Academy of Science: one by Richard Brandon, The Preparation and Properties of 3-Brom-hex- ane ; another by Bertha Fietz, A Study of the Efficiency and Some Properties of Calgon ; and a third paper by Frank Woltz. A Comparison of the Electrical Conductivity of Some Salts in Water and Deuterium Oxide . There is one area which at present does not seem to be adequately covered in light of student occupational needs. To be definite, nearly forty percent of the Bethany chemistry students enter the steel industry directly, and we fail to give our men specific help for this work. The metallurg- ist rather than the chemist dominates the tech- nicaal side of this industry, and our men must acquire information elsewhere to be considered more favorable. We should and will as soon as practicable, include work in metallography. Our students also need work in drafting, a field which we do not cover at present. How much do Bethany students use the pres- ent facilities? For several years about fifty freshmen have enrolled annually in the first year course, and, generally speaking, about fifty per cent of these have chosen to continue chemistry as a major interest. The usual college casualties diminish the ranks to less than ten graduates on the average. With respect to personnel, we have Dr. W. S. Miller, who is especially well fitted to contribute in the field of analytical and general chemistry. He has had some industrial experience, took his undergraduate work at Lehigh university and his Ph. D. at Syracuse university, where he was a graduate assistant in analytical and general chemistry. He came to Bethany with the best commendation and was called back one summer to teach at Syracuse. Dr. Miller, as an instructor, prepares his work carefully and is making a very PAGE SEVENTEEN

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T H E faetAarUcui OCTOBER Volume I Bethany, W. Va. Number 1 Darrell Fultz Jane Cluss John Costello William Cress Norman Fair Rert Decker Professor Dawson STAFF Editors-in-Chief Business Manager William Ashley Editorial Board Margaret Keim William Kiel Bobby Murray Scott Perry Business Staff Contributers Wallace Mayor Kenneth Underwood Managing Editor William Rutter Virginia Richardson Marilynn Roberts Ethel Shafitz Delle Williams Robert Martin John Erskine THE COLLEGE MAN ... A LIVING PARADOX D. Fultz Student morale is denned as that quality which enables the group to achieve its purpose most efficiently, ' ' said John Erskine in a paper read be- fore the recent faculty sem- inar. The issue in question was that of student morale and the discussion as to what student morale is and how it may be maintained was led by Delle Williams and John Erskine. Many of the suggestions for the improvement of student morale such as a change in the system of required courses, more strict control of clubs, provision for a student recreation center program, and the emphasizing of excellence in scholarship will be presented in the editorial columns of future isesues of the Bethanian. The point we wish to make here in regard to student morale is that although the question of maintaining morale involves group purposes and activities, it is basically an individual problem. This statement is best understood if we briefly consider the typical college student. The college man is a living paradox, says r eg K. Underwood W. AMey Dean R. E. Manchester of Kent State university. How truly he speaks of the Bethany man! He prides himself on being ultra-modern to the point of radicalism yet he is the most conservative ele- ment on the campus. He calls the faculty old fog- ies and refuses to try their ideas of progressive educa- tion. He believes in college as primarily an education institution and is more concerned about the abundance of datable girls in the freshmen class than how many new books the library purchased for this year. He goes with a girl a year before deciding that she must wear his pin, then wants it back two week later. He demands freedom of thought yet has nothing to say when given an opportunity to ex- press himself. He cries for democracy on the college campus yet refuses to make close friends outside of his fraternity. He demands that his alma mater be idealistic about athletics and en- courage playing for the love of the game. Then he cannot understand why the college does not continued to page 29 page nineteen