Drexel University - Spartan Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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DR6X6L inSTITUT€ Of TeCHnOLOGY eveninc coLLeoe CLRSS OF 1952

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JAMES CREESE PR SID nT, DR6X€L inSTITUTe OF T CHnOLOGY To the Graduatins Class of 1952 The theme of your yearbook is a three-hundred-year old proverb accredited to Sir Francis Bacon, Knowledge Is Power. We can find the same thought in many older adages. But Bacon actually had in mind the kinds of knowledge that have constituted your studies here. He was the first seriously to conceive of an over-all reform of society by the planned application of science to production. Sir Francis had unconventional ideas about knowledge. Learned men of the universities in his day and statesmen of Elizabeth ' s court in such high positions as he held, were not commonly expected to be much interested in the arts of manufacture. Sir Francis, however, made a com- prehensive plan for a new order of society to be a- chieved by those arts. By an organized and intelligent progress in science and invention, he believed that the conditions of human life could be vastly improved and that even our habits of thought could be changed for the better. So he anticipated the technology of our day. In view of the modern achievements of industrial science, his saying that knowledge is power seems only a statement of literal truth. Manufacturing and commerce have been transformed by industrial science. Our economy has become de- pendent on the consistent conduct of organized research. During no other period of history has such a wealth of scientific knowledge been disclosed as in the present century. This is an age in which the power of technology has become plain. No company, no community, and no country can afford now to neglect the search for new knowledge. Nor can any individual. At Drexel ' s sixtieth anniversary convocation this year, there were many striking comments on the wide expansion of industry in our own neighborhood. One well-informed speaker estimated that as much as two billion dollars will be spent soon in the Delaware River area for new plants and new industries. There should be no lack of opportunity here for men who know how to use technical knowledge, when and where to use it, and why. I heartily congratulate you on the successful com- pletion of a long, severe course of study. You believe confidently that your studies here will help you to make the most of your professional opportunities. So do we. Perhaps I need not remind you that your education, how- ever, does not stop now. Your diploma is an invitation to further study. The range of your studies may be steadily broadened: on the job, in the classroom, where advanced certificates and academic degrees are to be earned, in your reading, and in the daily contacts with persons and affairs. You may progress, if you choose, into new technical fields and into adjacent areas of science, eco- nomics, history, and philosophy. That is the right course of an educated man who acquires a true sense of the power of knowledge. James Creese, President

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KENNETH W. RIDDLE DIR6CTOR, €V€ninG COLL€G€ RHD DIPLOmfl SCHOOL Members of the Diploma Class of 1952 You fiave reached another milestone in your educational careers. You have acquired the necessary theoretical background to make your daily practice more meaningful and more productive. As technical men you are intensely conscious of the use of power — power in the physical sense to do the world ' s work. Mod- ern man relies more and more upon the design and development of new and better equipment to utilize this physical power. The quest for new and better sources for the utilization of energy, how- ever, depends itself upon power — the power of knowledge. Ex- tension of technical developments in equipment and processes depends upon the proficiency of men and women charged with these responsibilities. The further the frontiers of knowledge can be expanded, the better will be the end product. That you are conscious of the power of knowledge is also at- tested by the sacrifices you have made in carrying through a study program in the Evening College. In all probability you have come to realize that learning is a never-ending process and although your formal education may terminate with graduation, you will continue to broaden your education through the years. I hope that many of you will plan to continue your formal education on the campus. May each one of you successfully reach the goal you have set for yourself and reap the benefits of your years of study. K. W. Riddle, Director