Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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' CHEMISTRY The sciences were of utmost importance in war time, and the various Navy training programs at Muhlenberg, both V-12 and V-5, laid much emphasis on them. Civilian students also increased this demand for them. Therefore, the staffs in the departments of the Science Building were augmented and kept very busy during the war and post-war years. In many cases this meant an increased teaching schedule for professors. Typical is the Department of Chemistry. George H. Brandes, Ph.D., a graduate of Cornell, heads this department. Throughout the past years he shared most of his teaching duties in the department with Assistant Professor John C. Keller, who also earned his doctor's degree at Cornell. From time to time Mr. Richmond Myers of the Geology Division assisted them. In 1946 Mr. Ralph L. Herbst, '45, was added to the department as special instructor. PHYSICS The Physics Department showed probably the biggest expansion and turn- over, not only because of the very much increased demands on the staff by enroll- ment in the course, but also because of the importance of trained physicists in the war effort. Called a physicists' war, the Second World War accelerated interest in this subject. Dr. Ira F. Zartman, head of the department, was on leave throughout the period to work with the National Defense Research Council. In his absence many of the teaching duties were carried on by Mr. Robert A. Boyer and Mr. Winfield Keck. Both men joined the Faculty in 1941. Boyer was graduated from Susquehanna University and took his master's degree at Syracuse, Keck from Amherst and the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Keck resigned to do graduate work in 1946. Con- nected with the Physics Departments work was an extensive course in engineering drawing, housed in the third Hoot of the Library. Men who taught this work and physics included Robert Townsend, R. L. Wolf, K. H. Weber, William D. Miller, john K. Heyl, and William B. Ramsdale. Top, Chemistry Department: left to right, Mr. Ralph Herbst, Dr. George Brandes, depart- ment head, and Dr. john Keller. Below, members of the Physics Department: Department head is Dr. Ira Zartman, left. Riglat, Mr. Robert Boyer watches an experiment with Instructor Win- field Keck. li 291

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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY Freshmen-required courses and the popularity of history in general made this department one of the largest in the College, exerting many demands on its staff. Dr. james Edgar Swain has taught history at Muhlenberg since 1925. During the past years he was head of the department. Professor Swain was graduated from the University of Indiana, where he also continued graduate work. He received his doctor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1926. Dr. Victor L. john- son, a graduate of Temple University, also took his doctor's degree there, in 1939. An assistant professor during the war years, Dr. johnson was made a professor in 1946. Dr. Swain specialized in European history courses, and Dr. johnson presented American and Latin-American history through the recent years. , joining the Faculty in 1942, Mr. Norman B. Wilkinson, '38, served as instructor in the History Department. Other instructors in history, added in 1946, are Mr. Helmut Golatz, a graduate of Temple, and Clayton W. Wotring, Ph.D. Both of them are helping to teach freshmen courses. Economics and business subjects were given by Mr. Karl F. Wittrich, a graduate of Columbia, where he also took his master's degree. Mr. Wittrich came to Muhlenberg in 1941 and has also at times instructed in history. American Govern- ment and allied subjects were presented by Mr. Kenneth Koch, 32, an Allentown lawyer. Dr. Edward Horn presented a course on the Cultural History of Japan. Muhlenberg wasone of the few colleges in America offering such work. Other in- structors in the department were Dr. Richard E. Hibbard and Mr. Paul Gebert. Roland F. Hartman is on leave for military service. He taught business. Muhlenberg's first woman professor, Dr. Bertha Paulssen, offered work in sociology during the war. The vacancy caused by her resignation to teach at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg was filled with the appointment in 1946 of Dr. Morris Greth. Dr. Greth, a graduate of Muhlenberg in 1922, had been teaching at Albright. Announcement was also made during the war of a new composite course in history, to be begun in September, 1946. Embracing the History of Civilization, American History, and American Government courses, the new course will be re- quired for all freshmen and sophomores. It will last four semesters and be given tive days a week. Department of History. The upper photograph, an old Ciarla print, shows department members at the beginning of the war. Seated, from left, Dr. Victor L. johnson, department head Dr. James Edgar Swain, and Dr. Richard Hibbard, standing, Mr. Norman Wilkinson, Mr. Donald Carpenter, Mr. Karl F. J. Wittrich, Mr. Roy Smeltzer. Below are department members Wilkinson, Wittrich, Swain, and Johnson in 1946. The department has since doubled. f30fl