Goucher College - Donnybrook Fair Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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DEAN PANCOAST

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much of his time and interest. He was. moreover, a brilliant student and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1902. grad- uating the same year with high honors. In 1906, after completing his graduate ' study, Dr. Robertson married Anne Vic- toria Knobel, the lovely daughter of a Presbyterian minister. He continued his work at the University and became Assise tant Professor in English in 1914. In 1920 he was made Dean of the Colleges of Art, Literature and Sciences. The activie ties of Dr. Robertson during the years spent at the University are those of a man of broad interests and versatility. He was founder and at one time president of the Renaissance Society which encouraged line arts and brought exhibitions of paintings and prints to the campus. Dr. and Mrs. Robertson, both music devotees, were active in founding the Orchestral Associa- tion and through Dr. Robertsonls influence the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was brought to the University annually for fourteen years. In 1924 Dr. Robertson came to Washington as assistant director of the American Council on Education, a position which he held until coming to Goucher in 1930. It was during his six years of service in this capacity that be conceived and developed the HJunior Year Abroad plan. He was discouraged by other educators in his attempts to execute the idea but due to his efforts the plan is operating successfully in a number of colleges today. For the Association of American Universities, President Robertson investi- gated more than two hundred colleges and universities in the United States, In 1928 he published American Universities and Colleges which has been said to contain Hmore information concerning education than any other single Volume ever published in the United States. Dr. Robertson has also visited numerous European universities in connection with the international work of the American Council on Education. In 1926 Dr. Robertson represented the American Uni- Versities at the Third Congress of British Universities. In 1928 Dr. Robertson was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws by George Washington University, and in 1929 that of Doctor of Literature by Bucknell. If this sketch had been written somewhat later in the century, there would be several additional paragraphs, for a new chapter is being written in the life of rresident Robertson as well as in the history of Goucher College. The two oLOI'leS will merge and become one. New threads Will enter into the narrative and old threads will be spun out to glorious completion. To those who come after us, Goucher and David Allan Robertson Will be two inseparable names. And yet, so completely have President and Mrs. Robertson entered into the immediate life of the college and won the loyalty and devotion of the students. that to us who have known them only a brief year there hardly seems to have been a time when they were not here. Twenty-three

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L311 Elinor Paneoast he cheerfully places his period and admits his ignorance of the subject, but the student of the college community could add much eloquence to this. She knows how various are the duties of the oflice, and how various and flexible must be the personality Who handles them. She sits on the oft- sung bench; object: awaiting the Dean. She trots merrily to chapel. There a gracious person turns the news of the week With a mot. Wherever she turns in the college community is a niche only one person can fill: the Dean. And so the student is prepared to add many paragraphs t0 Websterls defi- nition, and then to add, like the Baltimore weather man, Hit may be something yet againf' For any emergency returns to that radiating center: the Dean. All of Which is preface to selfvcongratulation. When Dr. Dorothy Stim- son boarded ship for England and a warning-less, cut-less world, Goucher bee camel plaintive. Where such another? Deans are born and not made. But Goucher is rich in its factulty personalities. Dr. Elinor Pancoast, turning from her many works and interests, added yet anotheraiideaning. In half a year, Goucher has come to know Dean Pancoast well. It has met her tact and gentleness in the little room With the brown and yellow boards. It has met her charm at chapel, at Sing Song, in many places. It is grateful for this chance to know a non-self-assertive person better; to sense the fine integrity of personality beneath the quiet manner. But the student Who initials the slip of paper marked l'Appointmentse the Dean, sees only a small side of Dr. Pancoast. There is the professor who elucidates the complexities of economic development and has furnished motiva- tion for many an Ec major. Above all, there is the Dr. Pancoast Who has made a name for herself in social work. Baltimore knows very well her lec- tures, her committee work, and her research in connection With social legislation and social reform. Dr. Pancoast is much interested in recent educational developments and hopes to see some of them carried into practice at Goucher soon. Especially does she favor a smaller number of subjects and the opportunity for greater concen- tration. The ureading periodll and Hhonorsli work also interest her and she hopes Goucher may increase its facilities for this type of work. Academically, iia college is its faculty. But very especially fortunate is the college whose dean is poised, sensitive and catholic. Goucher rolls happily along its way, complacent in the knowledge that at the slightest need, it linds a Dr. Pancoast waiting in ilOfliceethe Dean. D BAN: What says Webster? UAn executive officer of a collegefl There Twenty-five