New York University - Violet Yearbook (New York, NY)

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l HISTORY Cbairmfzfz-Bayrd Still. At the risk of making these biographical comments sound like a testimonial for the admissions ofhce, I will say that I count the chance that brought me to New York University, and hence to New York City, as the most noteworthy develop- ment in my career. To that date, with two exceptions, I had admired big cities from afar: from Woodstock, Illinois, where I was born and grew up, from the campus of the University of Wisconsin, where I earned the B.A., M.A., and Ph,D. degrees, and from Durham, North Carolina, where I was a member of the History Department of Duke Univer- sity. The two exceptions were a six-year sojourn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the history faculty of the University of Wiscon- sin-Milwaukee, and a period of more or less enforced residence in Washington, D. C. There I fought the battle of the Potomac, not in the Civil War, but in World War II, emerging from a three-year tour of duty at Gravelly Point fan annex of the Pentagonj with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Force. Throughout these years wherever I lived, the big city connoted intellectual excitement and cultural richness for meg and I was giving increasing thought and study to the history of urban growth in American life. To my good fortune, New York University had the foresight in 1947 to project a program of studies in urban development and called me, from Duke University, to pioneer in developing them. This has proved to be a continuously rewarding .ex- perience. It has given me the opportunity to offer courses in urban history both at University College and in the Graduate School, to do some writing on the history of American cities in general and of New York City in particularg and to become acquainted with the metropolitan-molded students of New York University. Most important of all, it brought me to New York City to live and work. Who could ask for anything more? Profeffoza-Marshall W. Baldwin, Harold E. Ham- mond, Carlyton Sprague-Smith. Arrorifzzfe Profermrr- Chester C. Tan. Arfirlfznl Pfofermrf-Edwin G. Olson, joseph Reither, Frederick C. Schult, john W, Wilkes. Imwmtoi'-Lawrence Oliva. MATHEMATICS Cbairmmz-Professor Frederick A. Ficken I had little to do with my birth, The same relaxed acceptance of the inevitable marked my early years in the Middle West. Depending shamelessly on my parents, I earned absolutely nothing. Shortly after my fifth birthday, it is true, I was in- stalled on a street corner with several copies of the Sazuwiay Evening Party they brought Sc each. This enterprise Hourished only briefly, however, and cannot be construed as a genuine breach of driftsmanship. Only years later, during the summers, I rather incautiously became involved with camp counseling, pumping gasoline, keeping books, clerking in stores, and peddling vacuum cleaners from house to house. This last indis- cretion confirmed the attractions of drifting quite conclusively. Meanwhile, back at the schoolhouse, my gift for drift led me into the classroom of a stimulating teacher of geometry and then brought me, two years later, under the influence of a teacher who believed that high school students could learn calculus. Thus nudged, I drifted as a college freshman through the sophomore course. and kept on drifting, ever since, with no essential change of direction. The usual sort of thing, you know-degree by degree, Then teaching, here and there, a frail bark battered from one beach to another by seas of students. I did one thing that might be called undrifty. but there is some doubt that it would constitute a true violation. In college days I earned my board by waiting on tables in a girls' dormi- tory. There was always cream for the cereal, however, a second slice of pie, and lively humor. How else, moreover, could one arrange to drift frequently into a room of pretty girls? It was not until years later that mid-century driftsmanship coined a term useful in recognition of these redeeming features of my hoard job, The word is serendipidity : it means finding good things in unexpected places, which is one criterion of an accomplished drifter. ProfeJJ'0rr-Marek Fisz, Horace A. Giddings, Arthur S. Peters, Irving F, Ritter. Adjunct Proferror-Richard W. Hamming. Arforifzfe Profefrorr-Salvatore Bernardi, Albert Bland, Claude W. Burrill, 'lack Heller, john R. Knudsen, Edward I.. Reiss, Martin Schecter, Leopoldo V. Toraballa, Martin Zuckerman. A.r,ri.rta11t Proferrorr -Ira A. Carl, Malcolm Goldman, Morris Meisner, Richard Pollack, Peter A. Rejto, Norman S. Rosenfeld, joseph G. Stamptli. Adjzmrf Alprimvzt Pr0ferr0r.f-Ro- muald Slimak. Izzrlrnrlorr-Arthur Babakhanian, jacob E. Goodman, Daniel Kocan, Cornelius W. Langley, Arnold Lebow, David Nebeker, George Riddle.

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GERMAN Cbairzzzfzfz-Professor Robert A. Fowkes. As an undergraduate, despite too many campus activities, I was on Dean's List and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I received the Crisi medal for Italian, and played loudly in the orchestra fdouble bassj, sang in the Glee Club, ran cross-countryg the present coach, joe I-Iealey, was a classmate. I also dabbled in campus politics and was senior vice-presi- dent. I have taught full-time at NYU since 1938, and had previous part-time experience here and at Columbia College. I have been to Europe four times for travel and study, and am not, despite campus rumor, speaker of a great number of languages. I do speak a few, but have as a chief interest linguistics, the systematic study of language relation- ships, development. and structure. I am a bit of a fanatic on things Welsh tiny ancestral language,-language, literature, music, and am active in Welsh-American societies. I have taught the NYU Glee Club to sing Welsh and a few other languages: I taught Welsh at Columbia for four years, and was also a lecturer in Sanskrit there for fourteen years. -I was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for re- search on the Welsh language, and went to Aberystwyth fsiclj for work in the National Library of Wales. I am completing what will be the hrst etymological dictionary of that language Cand probably the lastj. I am a member and have held offices in several national societies, and am the author of between thirty and forty articles on Germanics, linguistics, etc. I have also written four small books, including no best-seller. A graduate of University College, I am still proud of the school, and hope to see it continue to flourish and improve where there is room for so doing. Izzrirzzctorr-Guenther Gerlitski, John D. Barlow, Fred Ulfers, Constantine Michos, Esther Schneider. GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Chaimzazz-Professor Ralph A. Straetz. Friends often suggest to me that being a college teacher must be a wonderful and rewarding experience. And so it is. But the picture others have 'of the professor peering over his spectacles in a study, paneled on the inside, ivy-covered on the outside, and venturing out only to teach a class or two before returning to the purity of scholarly contemplation, is somewhat removed from reality. Books, classes, and study are certainly central to our lives, but surrounding and complementing them are such essential activities as faculty committee meetings, departmental meetings, conferences with students and colleagues, 'or with administrators, some sessions take hours, and other matters are settled during a five-minute walk across campus. These activi- ties only deal with my professional life. The effective college professor is usually also an effective citizen in his com- munity. Party politics, educational problems, church and re- ligious interests, promotion of the arts-such demands on one's time and energy are, or can be, enormous. Not all, but many college professors are thus involved. Many of our students come to us knowing where they are going professionally. Our task is to help them make sure that their original choice is correct from the point of view of aptitude, interest, and temperament. Sometimes we assist in gently dissuading a parent from insisting that a son or daughter must enter a profession where money and prestige seem assured. Increasingly, undergraduate training is not suffi- cient, so that students look to the college teacher for advice, suggestions, and recommendations about graduate schools and specihc areas of specialization. In general, if we have a guidance role, it is to encourage the student to reach academic decisions by himself, After consulting with others, he alone must select the area in which he can contribute most to the community. The spirit of an institution is something one senses and is not subject to clear and accurate description. Its most im- portant ingredient is the manner in which the pursuit of knowledge is carried on and complemented by a yearning for the creation of a better world for those who come after us. This ingredient I hnd in full force at University College. Profermr-Edward C. Smith. Arrorifzfe P7'0f6JJ01'-H. Mark Roelofs. Arrjrffmf Profermr-Irving L. Marko- vitz, James T. Crown Con leavej. Izzrfrzzclol'-Robert Burrowes.

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METEOROLOGY AND OCEAN OGRAPHY Cbaiwmzlz-Professor james E. Miller After two years in the US Weather Bureau as observer and forecaster, I came to NYU in 1940 to assist in the training of weather olhcers for the Army Air Corps. My temporary ap- pointment has stretched out somewhat longer than was antici- pated. Since 1940 I have acquired four daughters, one step- daughter, and one stepson. These years have been productive in other ways. I have found teaching a most satisfying career, at least equal to making a fortune. Along with teaching there has been the pleasure of research work in a number of the atmospheric sciences: east coast storms, turbulence, energy trans- formations, and most interesting of all to me, tornadoes, the small but utterly deadly twisters. ' I graduated from Central College in 1957, took some courses at the University of Tennessee while working the night ob- server shift at Knoxville, and finished the Masters degree at NYU in 1941, Between Central College and the Weather Bureau, I spent a year with an exploration crew in Illinois for the Shell Petroleum Co. The best part of that job came during wet weather when the trucks could not operate on the back roads. Our custom then was to play non-stop poker until the weather cleared. Pr0fer.r01'.r-Gerhard Neumann, Willard Pierson, jr., Jerome Spar. Afroriafe Pfvferforr-Ben Davidson, Richard M. Schotland. Adjznzri Airoriazfe Pl'0fE.l1l'0i i Silvio G, Simplicio. MILITARY SCIENCE Chnirmmz-Lieutenant Colonel Albert R. Houghton. On October 4, 1910 I was born in Boston, Mass. I completed high school in 1928 at Winnwood High, a private institution, located in Lake Grove on Long Island, New York. In 1932, I graduated from the College of Business Administration, Boston University and also attained through the Army ROTC program a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Reserve. For about ten years, until World War II, I travelled exten- sively throughout the northeastern and middle western states representing sterling silverware manufacturers in No. Attleboro, Mass, and Meriden, Conn. In February 1942, now a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Reserve, I was called to active duty and served at Fort Benning, Ga., Camp Shelby, Miss., and Camp Claiborne, La. I fought with the 65th Infantry Division under General Patton's Third Army in Europe and at war's end was waiting in Enns, Austria to meet the Russian Army advancing from Vienna, I was promoted to Battalion Com- mander in May 1945. In july 1945 the 65th Division was withdrawn from duty in Austria and I was transferred to G4 duty in the Traffic Division of XX Corps at Starnberg, Germany. I transferred in 1949 to japan, where I participated in a number of intelligence operations in Fukuoka and Tokyo. Throughout the Korean War my duty station remained in Tokyo with a special support unit from GHQ for the intelli- gence effort in Korea. In 1952, my wife and I left Tokyo for my new assignment, Counter Intelligence Division, GZ, in the Pentagon and completed courses in the Strategic Intelligence School and Personnel Actions Division. From 1956 to 1959 we were stationed in Heidelberg, Germany with G2 Division, USAREUR Headquarters. During this assignment, time was permitted for occasional visits to many European countries including Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and a visit to the Worlds Fair in Brussels, Belgium. Aifimzmf Proferrom-Major Norman I-I. Trede, Major Roy E. Reed, jr., Captain Carl F. Snyder,