Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

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Che 1lndex rollton as superintendent of schools. This position he held until he came to Normal in 185.90 to take charge of the mathematical department. At once Mr. Felmley was ranked with the best teachers in the university. As a teacher of mathematics, he was clear, logical and thorough. He was not satisfied with appearances, but probed things by analysis, to discover the relations. His work soon became known throughout the state. In connection with President Cook, he prepared the work on number and arithmetic in the State Course of Study. To the sixth, seventh and eighth years of that course he has devoted a good deal of study. The excellent series of articles explanatory of this work published monthly in the School News a few years ago are an evidence of that factg also the outline of a course. The Constructive Geom- etry. to accompany the eighth years work in arithmetic. published at the same time. A two-book series of arithmetics. edited jointly by Mr. Felmley and Prof. George C. Shutts. of Whitewater, IVis , are announced for this summer. In all his work in mathematics there is manifest a thorough knowledge of the ped- agogy of the subject as well as of its matter. In June, 1900. upon the retirement of President Arnold Tompkins, Mr. Felmley was promoted to the presidency. He is, therefore, just closing his second year's work as president of the university. It is not too much to say that the institution has pros- pered under his supervision. President Felmley is a man of broad scholarship and liberal views. He is profi- cient in many lines and very capable. He has a well established reputation in school circles for being one of the best informed men in the state. In managing the affairs of the university it has been shown that he not only possesses ability and good judgment, but that he knows how to encourage and stimulate young people. During the twelve years in which he has been connected with the institution he has done a great deal of S

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4 ? in if ei UU it o fm 1 D3 eo :J- -4 o 'J -cs 1 CD M Q. CD 'J F? 'TJ fi FF -H4 Z5 O ls-7 RESIDENT FELBILEY was born near Somerville, New Jersey, April 24. INST. His father was of German origin and his mother of Holland Dutch. of the well known Voorhees family. lVhen he was but three years of age his fatlier died and his early education was left to his mother, who sent him to the village school at Somerville. In M65 the family moved west and settled on a firm in Perry, Pilce county. Illinois. Here the remainder of his boyhood was spent in a home well provided with boolcs and periodicals. At this period he read everything' within his reach and obtained a large fund of general information. A farm hand who was something' ofa naturalist. gave him a strong' impulse toward natural science and started him in the study of botany and Zoology by the rational method. An inspiration to theory, mathematics and literature he now credits to .Ioseph Dobbins. a former student of our university. In 18723 Mr. Felmley enrolled at Blackburn University. Carlinville, Illinois, where he remained three years. devoting most of his time to a study of the classics. At the age of nineteen he entered the University ofMichie'an, Ann Arbor, with advanced stand- ing, and was graduated in three years. In college, he ranlfed high as a student and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the faculty. He was very active in the literary societies and in the debates, and was fond of games and sports. His college course was brolfen at the end of the second year, by two years of teaching, one in the country near Yirden, Illinois, and the other at Carrollton, Illinois. After com iletini' his last YCllI'.S worlc and ffraduatinff in lnffl, he returned to Car- .Y , YN U I Che index

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very acceptable worlc in teachers' institutes and associations all over the state. As a result of this and of his work in the university. he is well and tavoralily lcnown in llli' nois and honored outside the contines ol' the state. President Felmley is a member ol' the executive committee ol' the National Society for the Scientitic Study of Education and next .luly appears helore the National Iiduca- tional Association at Minneapolis with a paper on the Relation of the lleads ol' the Departments in a Normal School to the Training' School lt is something of a surprise to those not intimately associated with him that he should exhibit such a grasp ol' edu- cational principles and practices. A year ago he was elected president ol' the State Teachers' Association and his ollicial address last winter at Hpringtield was ol' unusual merit. receiving' the greatest praise from all present. its publication a little later in Intelligence brought the highest cotnmendation from no less notalmle an educator than United States Commissioner of Education Wm. F. Harris. C be As a man, President Felmley is hind hearted. lirm, generous, simple in his tastes. 'IIIIGQX approachable and thoroughly honorable. He has a model home and it is frequently thrown open for the delightful entertainment of the students and the faculty. ---'sh fi