Stevens Institute of Technology - Link Yearbook (Hoboken, NJ)

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Y rm 3 4,--. .1 Q J- . umgtltlii,.i!Mz.,ZLH'-...ie Sr l h FL ntl IEIIIIIIIIIIIHEllllulllwlt I e .!!..!!!!!!!Q!e.'5..?!l !!! !!!!!!!!J . .JL i leinruiafi. !.! !!!!5s!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JE The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology OFFICERS WALTER KIDDE . . . . . . . Chairman FRANKLIN B. KIRKBRIDE . Ist Vice-Chairmen EDWARD WESTON . . 2nd Vice-Chairman ALTEN S. MILLEIK . ..... Secretary JAMES CREESE . . . . Treasurer and Assistant Secretary MEMBERS ROGER C. ALDRICH, M.E., Alumni Representative . JOHN ASPINWALL, M.E., M.A. . . . JAMES CREESE, LITT. B., M.A. . HARVEY N. DAVIS, A.B., PII.D. . . . HENRY T. GERDES, M.E., Alumni Representative . GEORGE GIBBS, M.E ..... DAVID S. JACOBUS, M.E., E.D. . WALTEIX KIDDE, M.E. . . FRANKLIN B. KIRKBRIDE, A.B. . JOHN W. LIEB, M.E., E.D. ALTEN S. MILLER, M.E. . . . FREDERICK A. MUSCHENIIEIM, M.E. . ROBERT C. POST, M.E. . . EDWIN A. STEVENS, JR., M.E. . WILLIAM E. S. STRONG, . ALBERT C. WALL, B.A., M.A. . EDWARD WESTON, LL.D., Sc.D. . MRS. I'IENRY O. WITTPENN .... RICHARD A. WOLI-'I-', M.E., Alumni Representative 28 . Newark, N. J Newburgh, N. Y . Hoboken, N. J . Hoboken, N. J Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. New York, N. . Hoboken, N. J New York, N. Y Jersey City, N. J . Newark, N. J . Hoboken, N. J New York, N. Y

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fn' 7 YN .:.-,liiilllllil iilill lllll A mj lfgllllllll ,gngignsqsgzanlllnli ' HHH' ' 'ili HW ii i f ' I W 'uw' nauu uu they don't know much, and of knowing what to do about it. If any of them fall into the hands of that captain of industry of whom I spoke a moment ago, no positions whatever will be closed to them, for wherever he puts them, they will carry with them an ample abundance of the black soil of ignorance in which to raise the flower of eager self-education which he so much desires. ln thus urging a single unspecialized curriculum, l am, you will notice, raising engineering education from the status of the trade school, with its multiplicity of special apprenticeship courses, to the status of the training schools of the older professions of law and medicine. There are corporation lawyers and criminal lawyers and patent lawyers and admiralty lawyers and a dozen other kinds of lawyers, but in no first-class law school that I am familiar with are there a dozen or even two separately labeled curricula. So, also, there are surgeons and obstetricians and pediatricians and psychiatrists and orthopedists and internists and specialists in the nose and throat, and even a few good old-fashioned family doctors, but every good medical school gives them all the same fundamental training. Of course, both in law selmols and in medical schools, the single curriculum has a certain flexibility through election by the student, and the same should be true of our ideal engineering curriculum. But the amount of election that is commonly found desirable in the schools of law and medicine is surprisingly small, especially when one considers the maturity of the students. And furthermore, in law and in medicine there is intense specialization, as I have indicated above, but the student begins it, in general, only after graduation, perhaps as an interne in a hospital, perhaps in the law offices where he finds his first job, perhaps, in certain cases, through highly specialized post-graduate academic study. ln engineering, also, there should be opportunities of all these kinds, but they should follow rather than permeate the fundamental four years. Every engineer specializes sooner or later, and will, if he is a first-class man, specialize more and more intensely all his life. If, during his undergraduate years, we can lay a firm general foundation for this specialization, we shall have made the most effective possible contribu- tion to his career. The single, broad curriculum which I have outlined is no new thing at Stevens. Throughout the fifty-seven years of its existence, Stevens has stood for one course and one degree. It is true that the degree selected long ago, the degree of Mechanical Engineer, looks like a specialized degree, but everyone who is familiar with what has been done during these years knows that the course has been far from correspondingly narrow, and that Stevens graduates are to be found in almost every branch of mechanical, civil, electrical, and chemical engineering, and in many less technical business and executive positions. Whether, with this ideal, and with so definite a success in realizing it, Stevens has been wise in retaining an apparently specialized and really misrepresentative name for its single degree is another question. There are many who feel that a general degree in engineering would be much less likely to mislead prospective students on the one hand, and prospec- tive employers on the other. But the weight ofa long tradition is not to be lightly cast aside, and there is many an alumnus whose regret would be deep, sincere, and vociferous, if his son, now with us or still to come to us, could not look forward to singing with his Dad the good old song, I'm a rambling wreck from Stevens Tech. a Mechanical Engineer. However we may feel about the name of the degree, the essential thing is that we do the right kind of a job, and do it as well as we know how. And to the furthering of the job, the job of giving one fundamental, unspecialized, undergraduate curriculum, affording what might be called a liberal engineering education, the job of turning out cadet engineers who, though largely untrained, are yet thoroughly prepared to train themselves through long lives of usefulness--to the furthering of that job I pledge my best endeavor. 27

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fl. I .E fs ,!,,vxr1t2..1! Eirxm' 1 in I lilllllllllllllll mural A sl !!!!!!! !!! ll!! ll!! Ill. l DR. H. N. DAVIS VICE-PRESIDENT CHEESE J DEAN FURMAN ASSISTANT DEAN WEGLE Administration FOR several years there has been a growing feeling of discontent with the Stevens adminis- trative system. With the inauguration of Dr. H. N. Davis, a marked change was brought about which places the presidential duties almost entirely in the field of inspiring intellectual and scientific leadership. In order to relieve the President of the duties of the business administration, Mr. James Creese was secured to assume the office of Vice-President and Treasurer. Professor F. DeR. Furman was appointed Dean of the College to attend to student-faculty relations. The position known as Dean of Student Activities has been re- tained under the name of Assistant Dean and is most ably filled by Professor J. C. Wegle, the Registrar of the College. OFFICERS HAIKVEY N. DAVIS, A.B., A.M., PR.D., Sc.D., LL.D. ..... President JAMES CREESE, LITT.B., M.A. .... Vice-President and Treasurer FRANKLIN DER. FURMAN, M.E. .... Deqn JOEN C. WEGLE, M.E. . . Registrar and Assistant Dean 29