Tufts University - Jumbo Yearbook (Medford, MA)

Page 18 text:

INDICATION Dr. Nils Yngve Wessell is completing his twenty-first year of service to the Tufts community. He came to Tufts in 1939 from Ann Arbor where he was director of the Mobile Child Guidance Clinic at the University of Michigan. He served as Dean of the School of Liberal Arts until 1953, and as Vice-President from 1951 to 1953- In that year, he was elected by the Trustees as the eighth President of Tufts College. The life of a college president is not an easy one. As a public figure, he is sought on all sides for advice and guidance in every branch of education. He must preside at faculty meet¬ ings, commencements, cornerstone layings, and committee meetings, as well as act as speech-maker for an infinite num¬ ber of organizations. And most importantly, he must manage a multi-million dollar college with money that must be con¬ tinuously accumulated. When he became president, Dr. Wessell immediately assumed the administration and coordination for the college’s expansive plans. When Tufts officially changed from a college to a university in 1955, Dr. Wessell became the first President of Tufts University. Tufts has grown during his seven years as president, and he has grown with the University. In his civic contributions, Dr. Wessell has shown the same administering ability, but never has he let it interfere with his desire to see Tufts grow. In 1940, the Jumbo Book was dedicated to him as a promising young administrator. The Jumbo Book of 1954 was inscribed in his honor when he became the President of Tufts, and it centered in him the hopes of Tufts’ future. In his seventh year as president, Dr. Wessell has shown that his promise has developed into an actuality. It is now time that we acknowledge his transition from a young administrator into a proven and experienced educator. To Dr. Wessell, and to his past and future work in building a better Tufts Uni¬ versity, this I960 Jumbo Book is respectfully dedicated.

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■ : m • : 0 ‘ : : ' - ■ ■ ■ • ' . . • - . - ? ' . vmm wmm ., ■ - ;vv ’ . ■•;■•. • ' v-y , . . . ' • • ' ' vJ ' V i 1 . ' • The best definition of a university that I have been able to think of is a center of independent thought. Education necessarily involves the critical examination of conflicting points of view; it cannot flourish in the absence of free inquiry and discussion. —Robert M. Hutchins