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

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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,

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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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MUSIC Cfmirmmz-Associate Professor Harold I-Ieeremans. Born in Bristol, England, I soon decided to avoid work if possible. Seizing upon music as the most playful way of divert- ing oneself through life, I studied the piano: then, to increase my statistical chances, the violin and organ, singing in a boy choir for cash on the side. Upon leaving school, I practiced until I was 16, when I entered the profession as a violonist in a movie theater. jobs in legitimate theaters. cafes. a zoo, and symphony and concert performances, followed. Because of an increasingly aggravating situation across the English Channel, a pressing invitation to join the British army was accepted. The news of this apparently travelled swiftly, for the overseas argument was won before I had a chance to make a point or two. As an infantryman, I joined an army concert party in Cologne, Germany, this was my most active service. Returning to England in 1920, I emigrated to Canada. In Canada, I broadened my experiences by playing piano in a stock company orchestra, organ in a movie theater, and con- ducting vaudeville. Emigrating to the United States in 1923 I acquired the right to vote-usually on the losing side. In 1924, I was organist of the Rivoli and Rialto Theaters, Times Square, New York, In 1931, the time had come to close my education. Taking the easier way, I joined the faculty of the University of Washington, Seattle, as teacher of organ and music history, An invitation to join the faculty of New York University in 1936 projected me into the hustle, tussle, and bustle of the life of a musician who becomes mixed up with the local artistic machinery. As National President of the Amer- ican Guild of Organists, I fly away from it all upon occasion to tell local chapters and national gatherings how pleased I am to be with them. My hobby is resting-a commodity peculiar in that its rarity is dependent upon its expense. Profefror-Alfred Greenfield. Adjmzrf Arrirlmzl Pro- ferror-Stephen lay. PHILOSOPHY Clmirnzmz-Professor Harmon M. Chapman. Although there is no record of it, my birth took place shortly after the turn of the century. According to one account, the notorious james brothers burned the local courthouse where some official records of their misdeeds were held. There is no evidence that they had further designs against me, or my nativity. But others did. I was submitted to an upbringing which has left a permanent stamp on my character and on such other parts of me as were susceptible to formative influ- ences. Several schools in as many parts of the country suffered my presence and labored diligently at my improving. Their efforts were only moderately successful. yet sufficient to gain me admission to college, Fortunately, at this time college ad- mission did not require much more than a declaration of intent and the ability to pay fees. My college career began rather spectacularly. for other than academic reasons, at Annapolis, was resumed at Ohio Stateg was later transferred to the Uni- versity of Oregon: and then came to a head at Harvard University. This was followed by three important events: two and one-half years of study abroad, and the great depression, and my marriage to a lovely little English teacher at Wellesley. In 1934, NYU, in a moment of despair, sought my services as a teacher of philosophy, confident no doubt that so many institu- tions of higher learning must have left some deposit. The next fifteen years were the happiest of my life. Indigent though they were. they brought me four priceless blessings: three chil- children and the opportunity to teach. This idyllic period expired with the close of the war. The specter of committees then reared its ugly head: it stalked me, laid siege to my time, and ravished my energies. It also taught me two salutary lessons: to regard retirement as a release from bondage and to avoid speaking of oneself at any cost-someone may be looking for a chairman. A.r.ri.mmf Proferfor-Raziel Abelson. I125Ir11cfor.r-Phe- roze Wadia, Stanley Malinovich. .