St Louis University - Archive Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Walter F. Gast, Assistant to Dean of the School of Commerce and Finance; George W. Wilson, Dean; Rev. Joseph L. Davis, SJ., Regent. The School of Commerce and Finance gives the student a solid and complete foundation for high attainment in the world of business as well as a general, well-rounded, cultural background, by offering practical courses in finance, economics, marketing, accounting and management, in addition to the more generic and semi-classical studies, which are of a less technical nature. The Commerce and Finance student has the opportunity to discuss current economic and political prob- lems and other topics of a legislative nature in a definite and analytic manner. This study of business in a scientific manner has become necessary in this day of high specialization and financial complexities. To keep pace with the need for specialized study in business, St. Louis University estab- lished the School of Commerce and Finance in 1910. The success of the graduates of this School has resulted in its steady growth, and this year the number of students enrolled has exceeded the thousand mark. The program of studies has kept pace with this numerical development and covers a wide 1 -— fl 3. L h = pg H T ■ !1 C ke School of iyommerce am Lmince area of demand. Particular attention has been given to the call for instruction in important practical procedures growing out of recent government legislation, such as the Social Security Act and its complex applications, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and its suc- cesses, and the New Deal in general. The student learns to cope with these and similar problems which he will encounter when he enters the financial world. Student activities have been in evidence in representative university fields such as sodali- ties, forensics, music, athletics and social enter- tainments. Supplementary activities, closely allied to the regular academic curriculum, have progressed quite rapidly during this ses- sion. These optional activities, mostly in the form of placement training and survey work, offer more than one hundred students oppor- tunities of great practical value. They serve as excellent practical illustrations and appli- cations of theory and principle. These surveys and placements are made in the actual field of business, some sixty large corporations 28

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for careful integration. It is true that speciali- zation alone does not suffice. The university must possess, or somehow draw into itself, minds that are capable of both specialization and generalization. The new material which is accumulated must be organized, integrated, tried out in new patterns. Anything less would leave the process of scholarship incom- plete. Amidst the ever-growing complications of modern educational methods and techniques there is a danger at times that attention will be so centered on means that they are mistaken for ends. Techniques of scholarship are not scholarship itself, but are merely its tools. Nor is the same tool suitable in all fields. It is probably true that in the past there has been too much forcing of the techniques of research developed in the natural sciences, where experiments are relatively simple — verification is usually possible and control available — into the social sciences and humanities, where con- ditions are very different. More important than this, it must never be forgotten that learning does not advance itself. It is always some man or some woman who does the advaiKing. In other words, knowl- edge advances only as those who know increase and develop. A graduate school, and above all a Catholic graduate school, can never for- get that its peculiar prerogative — the creation of the future — depends on the scholars it develops. The Graduate School is often alleged to be the leader of that harmonic orchestra of schools which comprise the University. She sounds the keynote for a thrilling arpeggio which constitutes the audible tone of the entire institution. The metaphor may be prolonged indefinitely, even to drawing parallels with the brasses and woodwinds. In fact, it often has been. And again there are some grains of truth in this assertion. This, then, is the keynote of the Graduate School, this her indication of the tone of the University. And if she but repeats that note, which she has been sounding since her birth, it is because there can be no other correct one. Indeed it has been sounded from the beginning of time, and it will be maintained until the very end. The Graduate School, thus, is an essential unit of an integrated University. Individual research, seminars and the laboratory are important factors in the work done by the Graduate School. Left — The Department of Geophysics maintains offices and laboratories in Sodality Hall. Center — The microscope is an essential instrument for students specializing in the physical sciences. Right — A Latin seminar discusses Roman religion and its effect on classical literature. 27

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The School of Commerce and Finance combines modern classrooms with efficient teaching. Top to bottom — The demand for expert accountants makes courses in that field some of the most important in the Commerce School. A group of students in advertising examine a layout. A class in economics learns the principles of price determination and quantity. The Commerce lounge is a favorite meeting place during intermissions between classes. cooperating with the School by arranging survey field trips on which the students may observe the practical demonstrations of the theoretical knowledge which they are receiving in school. Special laboratory work has been inaugurated this year in adver- tising and statistics. The fundamentals of artistic layout, chart making and tabulation, have been placed under the skilful direction of practical experts who supplement the work of the regular teaching staff. The evening division of the School of Commerce and Finance, owing to the increased enrollment in its regular classes, has been compelled to utilize all evenings of the school week to accommodate its increasing student sections. Hitherto only three nights a week had been assigned to evening classes, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but this year both Tuesday and Thursday are of necessity included in the regular schedule. This enlarged schedule, however, does not interfere with the more important extra-curricular activities usually assigned in the past to these two evenings. The ample accommodations of the School of Commerce and Finance, with its spacious lounges, enable the School to take care of any number of extra evening programs. This increase in enrollment of the night division is very encouraging for it shows that employed people are taking advantage of the opportunity to better themselves intellectu- ally. This division of the Commerce School was established in the hope of giving a Catholic business education to those who otherwise would have to forego it. During the past year, the School of Commerce and Finance suffered a much regretted loss in the death of one of its most distinguished graduates, James O. McKinzie, of the class of 1916. Graduating with high honors, he rose rapidly in the teaching profession, first at the Uni- versity of Ohio and later at Chicago University. Subsequently, he entered the field of business as an efficiency expert. In this new activity he met with brilliant success. Three years ago he was made Chairman of the Board of Marshall Field and Company of Chicago, Illinois. He reorganized that huge corporation with rare skill and discernment and succeeded in placing it upon a firm financial basis. Comparatively a young man when he died, he had accomplished much, lived a full life and served his Master and his fellow men to a complete and overflowing degree. t f ' 29