Simmons College - Microcosm Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Paul L. Salsgiver, Director Writing, reading Let ' s get down to Business — to the able executives of tomotrow who today struggle with shorthand and typing. Girls in the School of Business choose courses in their junior and senior years that will pre- pare them for a specific field such as, personnel, ac- counting, inter-American relations, or advertising. Their work falls into three major categories: (l) gen- eral education, (2) study of the administrative and management functions of business, and (3) courses in business office skills and procedures. Their general education includes not only liberal arts like history, economics, and psychology but also guessing faculty charades and hearing Miss Sweeney play the uke at the annual Business School Party — a huge success! Professional subjects include business statistics, marketing, advertising (when will Mrs. Coulter relax?), personnel, accounting (a small class), busi- ness law, and shorthand and typing. The latter they mention in a hushed voice — out of respect, or be- cause their teeth are clenched. The bug-a-boo of Calling all Secretaries! Calling all Secretaries! Voices in the ears of Alba Pagnini, Virginia Anderson, Betty Heselton and Peggy Wright. Ann Greenwald, Sally Jordan and Joan Battis do time in research. •120 }

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Valzing with Valz through a double-period of graphic arts. The contrast between types of classrooms is tremendous. The lab sessions continue for hours on end, while the business school girls give most of their spare time to the typing and machine rooms. The Library School girls spend research time in the libraries, acquiring efficiency in the process, and home economics majors tantalize the rest of the building with tempting aromas. Our professionals train in nursery schools, working equally hard as the Prince School girls downtown and the student nurses in hospitals. Put them all together and they are Simmons. . . SCHOOLS 4 19

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and Remington equal one secretary the Business School will some day be a handy tool of the rising administrator and will provide a stepping- stone to her responsible position. Time-consuming and uninspiring, today there seems to be no art in it — unless it ' s in trying to decipher exactly what those shorthand scrawls are supposed to mean. The girls analyze actual conditions in a wide variety of businesses. When they graduate they are prepared for government agen cies, educational in- stitutions, and professional or business offices. Two weeks of field study are provided for seniors. Office machines may look complicated and uncon- querable to the layman, but the Business School girls master them all, from the calculator to the mimeo- graph (how do these blank sheets of paper slip through?). Recently modernized, the office ma- chines rooms are now comfortable and efficient — that is not to say quiet. According to the chief executive, Mr. Salsgiver, the emphasis of this program is not so much on skill (now you find out!) as developing initiative, capacity of sound judgment, and fitness to meet responsibility. This executive ability is what may make for rapid advances in the business world. If all this sounds like a strain on the students, consider for a moment the effects of the Business School on its faculty members: Mr Byers was drafted, Mrs. Dickinson got occupational arthritis in her arm, Miss King had an infected foot, and Miss Engler broke her ankle. (With characteristic devo- tion to duty, she refused to wear a cast which would have meant missing classes.) Let ' s hope that the school is not a jinx! A college education for a business position is be- coming increasingly important. With a combina- tion of liberal arts and specialized business training, these girls will be much in demand. Then the hours of toil and tears over shorthand, the nights before exams spent memorizing the prin- ciples of personnel, and the endless hours of writing reports in the Business Library will no doubt all fade in the light of success. •(21 }