George Washington University - Cherry Tree Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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THE JUNIOR COLLEGE H E N R V G K AT TA D 0 V L E Draw The Junior College of The George Washington University was estab- lished by the Board of Trustees in June, 1950, as one phase of a general program of reorganization of the University. Freshman and sophomore years of Columbian College were separated from the junior and senior years and assigned to an autonomous Junior College. At the present time the Junior College is comprised of all regular freshman and sophomore work in the University except that offered in the School of Engineering. In establishing the Junior College it was also provided that a Junior College Certificate should be awarded as a diploma upon completion of the junior College courze. The Trustees voted that this certificate should be required for admission to the senior colleges and to the professional schools. The Junior College affords a better transition between the secondary school and the University. It makes for a more homogeneous grouping of students. It provides for more effective guidance of students through an advisory system with a board of advisers always available. This unification of the lower division student bodies of the University affords better correlation of the social and recreational activities of fresh- men with the problems of scholarship. Technically, it simplifies registra- tion, helps in attendance supervision, and makes possible closer cooperation with parents and with the secondary schools.

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THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE The School of Medicine was established in March, 1825, under the leadership of Doctor Thomas Sewall. The first building was erected by the professors of the new school but later the school took over quarters in the United States Infirmary, which building was consumed by fire while in use afterwards as a military hospital during the Civil War. During this time the School of Medicine was housed in a building given by Mr. W. W. Corcoran and afterwards occupied by the Surgical Museum. On June 7, 1882, the University authorized and subsequently erected on H Street be- tween 13th and 14th Streets a building which is now the older wing of the University Hospital and has been used for this purpose since 1897. In 1898 a new wing of the hospital was completed and in 1902 the present building of the School of Medicine was erected adjacent to the University Hospital. In 1932 an additional laboratory building was constructed ad- joining the hospital and connected with the School of Medicine. The School of Medicine has had many illustrious figures of the medical profession on its faculty. In 1833 it conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon William Beaumont. Besides a host of prominent clinicians, such as Dr. Kerfoot Shute, Dr. J. W. Bovee, Dr. Sterling Ruffin, Dr. Wil- liam K. Butler, and Dr. William Cline Borden, it numbers among its past faculty members such names as those of Dr. Theobald Smith, Dr. Walter Reed and Dr. Frederick F. Russell, all internationally known in their re- spective fields. Earl Baldwin McKinley Dean I

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COLUMBIAN COLLEGE The Reverend Luther Rice, a Baptist missionary, in 1819 organized a group of friends to buy land upon which to establish a college in the City of Washington. Among the early patrons of this institution were Secretary of Treasury William H. Crawford, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, the Attorney General William Wirt, the Postmaster General R. F. Meigs, and 32 members of Congress. Columbian College was chartered during the presidency of James Mon- roe by an act of Congress dated February 9, 1821. The next year the first building was completed and opened for use. During the Civil War the buildings of Columbian College were turned over to the national govern- ment, but classroom work continued. On March 3, 1873, the name of Columbian College was changed to Columbian University and in 1874 it was moved to 15th and H Streets, N. W. Before 1888 the college was for the exclusive education of men, but in that year the principle of coeducation was adopted. By act of Congress of January 23, 1904, the name of the institu- tion was changed to The George Washington University and Columbian College proper lost some of its identity by being merged into the Department of Arts and Sciences. In 1912 the term Columbian College was again in general use, being applied to the College of Liberal Arts. On April 15 of that year the University moved to its present site. Since then Columbian College has had a rapid growth in enrollment, and its organization has been consolidated and systematized. Alva Curtis Wilgus Dean