Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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He is an organic chemist concerned with structural problems. This year he taught the second semester of general organic and the first semester of the advanced course. Chemistry (i} . Word has it that ' Yi.V was a character builder. Colin MacKay is a bright young nuclear chemist who is very congenial and helpful to interested students. Like Bob Walters, he burns the midnight oil. MacKay often spends v .x ' ekends doing research at Yale. This year he taught the second semester of physical chemis- try while Dean Cadbury was on leave. Robert ( R.I. ) Walter is already a legend. He teaches one of the most notoriously difficult courses on campus — general organic. No student can forget this one. Those who last through it, come out knowing and retaining a lot, their mark, no matter how high, being a real purple heart. Students like Walter ' s friendli- ness and are often awed by his tireless and productive devotion to teaching both in and out of the class room. Walter ' s research interest concerns many problems — prominent among these is free radical chemistry. This interest ignited the Defense Department Controversy of 1957. The remaining spark of the teaching team during the last semester was Frederick ( 79 ) Brutcher, alias: Beware, visiting lecturer from the University of Pennsylvania. His intormation p.icked lectures, sprin- kled with generally good anecdotes (in the best Haav- ard accent), provided advanced organic students with an almost palatable dose of reactions and reaction mechanisms. Brucher ' s research interest concerns syn- thesis of natural jiroducts and reaction mechanisms. It may strike some that having a strong and active chemistry department on an admittedly liberal arts campus is a bit incongruous. Yet, following out the uniqueness theme, the department is strong because of its faculty .md students, and also because of its prox- imity to the humanities. Thus, it is possible that through the interaction and complementation of quality training in both areas, those who leave here will have the concerned initiative and sound direction so vita! to meaningful progress for mankind. COLIN F. MacKAY HARMON C. DUNATHAN Fifteen

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RUSSELL R. WILLIAMS, JR. WILLIAM E. CADBURY, JR. ROBERT I. WALTER CHEMISTRY Haverford ' s chemistry department is unique in many ways. For one, it has its own private building — a struc- ture with high stone walls, creaky stairs, underground chambers, and bars on the windows. The Chemistry Building houses the largest and steepest lecture hall on campus, a room where clanging radiators have dis- tracted many lecturers (and even dozing students) . In addition, the Chem Building possesses its own nauseat- ing smells, created by black-aproned inhabitants en- during 1-o-n-g laboratory periods, the first of which for every course is always spent washing apparatus and bending glass. Certainly the chief distinction of any department, however, is derived from the men that teach in it. These four years have been a period of significant change for all. Since the fall of 19 ' 4, there has been an almost complete change of personnel m the chem- istry department, due to the death of William Mcldrum ( the grand old man of the Chem. Department ) and turnover of most other members. It is strongly felt by students of the department that the new faculty has soundly reassessed the needs and curriculum — securing a solid foundation for present and future development. Probably the most obvious evidence of this is that the atmosphere of the depart- ment is now less dictated by desires of the non-major pre-medical students. By way of introduction for some, and for the Record, the following are members of the department. Dean William ( The Cad ) Cadbury, the single man who has remained from the past faculty, teaches physical chemistry. His research interest involves phase rela- tionships. Students of the course remember numerous derivations of formulas and appreciate the extremely well-organized laboratory work. The Dean, of course, IS familiar in a tweedy suit, raincoat and hat — with pipe. Russell Williams, the chairman of the department, is a quiet, bespectacled gentleman whose trademark is a large briefcase. He left teaching at Notre Dame in 19 6. He specializes m nuclear physical chemistry and will carry on research with aid from a grant given by the Atomic Energy Commission. Williams teaches both elementary chemistry and advanced physical chemistry. The department is making good, strong progress under his direction. Harmon Dunathan, the most recent arrival, is fa- mous for an hour e.xam that actually took five hours. Fourteen

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J ■ . i» e I I DOUGLAS H. HEATH GEORGE V. COELHO CHARLES E. MAYER PSYCHOLOGY Animal Lahoraiory : an unobtrusive sign on the fourth floor of Sharpless hides a dozen sad-eyed white rats peeking from behind empty water bottles, sharing their meager quarters with some imperious looking rabbits marked ' Property of the Biology Department. This seene is perhaps typieal of the plaee psyehology occupies among its sister bioU)gieal sciences even at enlightened Haverford : a kind of Cinderella scorned by the rest of the family and shuttled between the social and the natural sciences in true fairy tale fashion. But like Cinderella, psychology at Haverford has a certain pioneering spirit introduced by its dynamic head, Douglas Heath, whose unlimited faith in the ability of students to do advanced work — if given the opportunity — has made the department ideal for any- one interested in mastering the fundamentals of re- search. The center of his educational philosophy is in- deed the student, who, when given encouragement, can take his place early in the community of seekers of scientific truth. At the same time Heath has remained interested in the personal development of his students, and thus has succeeded in giving the department an air of scientific excitement as well as understanding of the personal needs of the scientists. Since psychology may be said to represent a fusion of the biological and social views of man, George Coelho leans more heavily toward the social interpretation. Accordingly, his contribution has been to present a thoughtful, rigorous approach to the less well defined problems of personality and social psychology, which with him become scientifically manageable while re- taining the flavor of their complexity. His sensitive grasp of significant literature has been mentioned by Gordon Allport, a noted psychological theorist — who has said of him, He can distinguish a significant book better than anyone else I know. Yet in spite of his serious grasp of the psychological meat, Coelho at home, in the midst of French House din, is one of the most friendly and informal members of the Haverford community, as are his wife Rani and three bright, lovable children. Representing the other psychological camp, the rigorous positivist Charles E. Mayer has already estab- lished himself in Haverford society as the somewhat caustic introductory psychology professor with a lean- ing toward impossible objective exams, intense interest in animals of all kinds — including human ones — and a predisposition for viewing the world as the central nervous system extended. If he were not a universal tinkerer as well, even the meager beginnings of an instrumented lab would still be in the blueprint stage. Thus he may be seen scurrying about extolling the rat and the implanted electrode, all the while reclaiming psychology as a true science. While still the Cinderella of the campus, psychology at Haverford is growing, and more than other departments can say confidently, Wait till next year! Sixteen