Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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HISTORY 19 3 4 H. Carnell, who labored for thirty-six years in the interest of our University, first in the capacity of an instructor, later as Dean, and finally as the Associate President. On March 31, 1929, three years after the death of Dr. Con well, Temple University and its friends bowed their heads in sorrow at the passing of Dr. Carnell. President Charles E. Beury was inaugurated in 1926. Under his able direction there has been remarkable academic development of the various schools and colleges of the University since he took over the Founder's work. More than 15,000 persons pledged support to the Russell H. Conwell Foundation in 1926, when gifts and pledges amounted to the sum of $1,600,000. Within the last eight years a comprehensive program of development has been sponsored by President Beury and the Board of Trustees. The first step in the program was the addition of the seventh floor of Conwell Hall. Then came the erection of Carnell Hall in 1928. The development of a Medical Center at Broad and Ontario streets, by the consolidation of the activities of the Medical School, Hospital, and the Nurses' School, comprised the second step. The Medical School Building was the first unit of the Center. The University possessed no adequate athletic field in 1927. In 1928, through the gift of Mr. Charles G. Erny, Temple became the owner of a large concrete stadium, which has a seating capacity of 40,000. Night football was introduced in 1930 and proved to be a worthy venture. Mitten Hall, beautiful and stately recreational center, was another contribution to the enrichment of student life. The Gothic edifice was opened January 1, 1931, and was named in honor of Thomas E. Mitten, late Philadelphia transit executive. Another notable step in the University's march of progress was the acquisition of the Oak Lane Country Day School in May, 1931. The new Medical School building was acquired the same year. A memorial bequest of a new library by the estate of Thomas D. Sullivan, valued at more than $250,000, formed the nucleus of the amount necessary to provide an intellectual workshop to fill the needs of greater scholastic standards and a growing undergraduate and graduate student body. This library, which will rank with the finest college libraries in the East, is being erected on the campus, following the Government award of a $550,000 loan for its construction. We pause, breathless, in the middle of 1934. We have only recorded the highlights of Temple progress. Space forces us to omit a mass of achievements that are worthy of recognition. We thank a loving and gracious God for allowing us to become a permanent, living part of our Alma Mater an Alma Mater that came from the Founder's soul and took shape fifty years ago. May the next fifty years bring as much progress. [15

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TEMPLE UNIVERSITY By President Charles E. Beury 1 TEMPLE UNIVERSITY recently celebrated its Fiftieth Anniversary, and behind the education which the University has endeavored to impart is a record of achievement which gives a high value to its diplomas. Graduation from Temple has become a mark of distinction. The present graduating class goes into the world at a time that will go down in history as epoch-making. Old ideas and time-worn fetishes are being supplanted by safer and saner conceptions of living. From out of the turmoil of the present political and economic stress should come a chastened civilization. When the world has safely survived the crisis through which it is passing today, exceptional opportunities will be presented to young people to assume active leadership, particularly so, I believe, to college-trained young men and women. This fact has already been demonstrated bv the active participation in the affairs of our nation today by university professors and other college-bred thinkers. There is no reason why Temple University should not take a conspicuous part in the so-called “New Deal, nor why its graduates should not share in the stupendous tasks directly ahead. These call for courage, individual initiative, and strength of purpose. If these qualities have not been developed in your college apprenticeship, they may be acquired and should be encouraged. Temple University’s own romantic story is dramatic proof of the theorem that a dogged determination to succeed will ultimately bring success. There have been times in her history when it seemed that she could not go on. But as obstacles arose, they were overthrown and barriers were swept aside by a tenacity that would not yield. The Senior Class will graduate with Temple's Golden Jubilee fresh in its memory. The alumni of Temple have been thrilled by reviewing her academic accomplishments. Step by step she has risen to higher levels of efficiency and service. Much of this progress upward and onward has been made even while many of you were students here. Temple's history is a saga of conscientious effort, the moral of which is obvious and applicable to individuals, no less than to institutions. Temple's graduates have spread before them a vista of opportunity unequaled in generations. Temple has girded them for the conflict. Their future is of their own shaping. It is my wish, and sincere hope, that they mold it into lives of usefulness. i n