Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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summer Hi, there. What do yon think of the yearbook so far? Oh perfect. To help you continue enjoying this edition of The Cauldron, we ' ve prepared the following eight page to introduce some of the creative concepts we ' ll be using. We believe we have some very interesting Ideas on which we ' ve built this yearbook. Therefore, in order to appreciate the contents of this book more fully, we ' ll explain how we ' ll be using them. The first concern is this year ' s subtitle, What ' s a middler? It gives a specific reference to a very general theme. You say you ' d like an English translation? Sure. Our theme Is to cover Northeastern as it really is. The black pavement and square white buildings, a city school, a co-op school. A place where summer school Is for everyone and not just for delinquent students. A place where a professional attitude Is more prevalent than a laid-back collegiate atmosphere. A university so large the numbers can engulf you or force you to strive for individuality. How do you sum all that up in a specific theme? You can ' t. That ' s where the subtitle comes in. (The plot thickens . . . ) We ' re sure you can recall becoming a third-year student, proudly proclaiming that you ' re now above the sophomore level, a middler. Boy, was that a mistake. Your high school buddy, old neighbor, new acquaintance or ugly brother replied What ' s a middler? After realizing that mistake for the 3,247th time, you finally realized it ' s much safer to aay, I ' m in my third year out of five. By then you also learned to explain what Northeas- tern really Is. What makes it different from Notre Dame, Yale and other schools. And that Is exactly what we ' ve done. We ' ve retold the story so when you look back you remember Northeastern as the unique institution it Is for most of us. Who knows ... it could be the way all schools operate in 2001.

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i through 70 years of service to North- yton at the age of 93, served as president of the university for 19 years before retiring in 1959. Prior to that he served as an instructor in surveying, dean of the College of Engineering and vice-president of the university. In his role as president, he built on a vision of what Northeastern could become, President Kenneth G Ryder said of Ell. Often referred to as Mr. Northeastern, Ell was the central force which made possible the building of the university. Carol Ell was born in Staunton, Indiana on Nov. 14, 1887 and was brought up on an Indiana farm. His great-grandparents came to the University in 1909. Ell came east that year to do graduate work in engineering at MIT. In 1910, he was asked to teach a surveying course at the YMCA. His first class had an enrollment of eight students. For Ell life was Northeastern. He worked hard to build it and expect- ed hard work from others. A common comment on a special assign- ment was, Take as much time as you want, so long as the job is done by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Repeatedly he pointed out to his faculty that a job at Northeastern was a 24-hour-a-day job. The institution came first, last and always with him. In his inaugural address, Ell talked of the idea behind the conception of the university in 1898. There was in this Commonwealth need for a university of employed men of intellectural ability but limited financial means, an idea which was soon to become crystallized in the phrase earn while you learn, he said. Ell ' s presidency will be remembered chiefly for giving the university a campus to call home and for building up its financial resources. He envisioned a campus with nothing but an idea of what it sho become, said Ryder. He added that the university had about $1 mil- lion in assets in 1940 and about $30 million by the time Ell retired in 1959. He got people to contribute money to the university when no one was quite sure what they were contributing to, said Ryder. From a few small rooms in the YMCA, Ell built a modern university. Three months after becoming president, he reported to the Board of Trustees that he had received $30 thousand in gifts for a building fund. The building constructed from those funds became part of the Mugar building. Other buildings constructed while Ell was president included the building housing Alumni Auditorium, named after Ell in 1959 in honor of his retirement; Cabot Gym; Hayden Hall and Dodge Library. By the 11 retired in 1959, any prospective student asking where North n was located could be given a definite answer. In half a centui he had guided the growth of the university from two pieces of chalk and an eraser to a solid institution, in the words of one former university administrator. Chancellor Asa S. Knowles, who succeeded Ell as president added, He gave unstintingly of his time and energies to provide Northeastern with a strong facility, an excellent physical plant, and substantial financial resources. He laid the foundations which have made possible the development of the Northeastern we know today. It is in this light that we dedicate the 1981 Cauldron to the efforts, lents and inspiration of Carl S. Ell.

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