University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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PRESIDENT JCEIN CLINTCN EDTR SLL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS TT IS with no inconsiderable degree of satisfaction that 1 look back over the seventeen years that have elapsed since I became the chief executive of the University of Arkansas. 1 make this statement without apology, for the progress that has been made represents the achievements of many able and loyal men, not only in this period but of an earlier generation. During these years, in the face of the establishment of almost a dozen other colleges in the state, and in spite of an elevation of standards for en¬ trance and for graduation, the number of students on the campus has trebled. The library has grown from a miscel¬ laneous collection of 15,000 or 20,000 books to a well-organized library of approximately 100,000 volumes, and is now rated as one of the best university libraries in the South. Technical and scientific apparatus and equipment have increased in the same ratio. Two of the best and most beautiful educational buildings in the nation have been President John Clinton Futrall erected. In the general estimation of the public and of educators, and in accordance with a published report of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the quality of the faculty of the University of Arkansas is of an unusually high order. The curriculum has been extended to include law, business administration, journalism, home economics, and other subjects. There has been a notable increase in the amount of research work done by faculty scholars. A graduate school has been established. The institution has begun to take on the atmosphere of a real university. The in¬ fluence of the University has been widely extended through direct contacts made with thousands of citizens in all parts of the state. The University has, however, still great problems to overcome before it can be the important factor in life and development of the state that a great uni¬ versity may be. For this purpose it needs money; money for buildings, for equipment, for better faculty salaries, for scholarships and student loans. The solving of these problems is one that calls for the best efforts of the University governing board, the admin¬ istration, the faculty, the students, the alumni, and all friends of education in the state. Page 27

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GCVEENCE EAEVEy DARNELL OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS T V HE present building and equipment A of the University of Arkansas is of very inferior quality — one of the poor¬ est of any state university in the country. Contrariwise, the faculty stands preeminent in the nation — it has no superior in quality. The faculty is not equalled in standard by any other Southern state university, but practically all of them outrank it as to physical conditions. True, we are progressing, slowly and tortuously, as is evinced by the new Engineering and Agricultural buildings, which are in¬ ferior to none in the country, but there are multitudinous other features of the University that need building up badly. To accomplish this the expenditure of considerable money will be neces¬ sary. So far the state legislatu re has not been over-benevolent in its appro¬ priation of funds for the University. It is hoped that the next session will provide the requisite finances to enable the University to progress as it should. The main hope of the University lies in Governor Harvey Parnell, who is one of its strongest advocates. He has lived up to his promises and worked for a greater University of Arkansas in particular, and for the whole field of education in general. In the person of Governor Harvey Parnell, the University has not only a friend but an ardent sup¬ porter, and one that will mean much to the building up of the University of Arkansas educationally. The present building program entails the con¬ struction of a new library building, a building to house the law students, a new building for chemistry and physics, a student union building, a new dormi¬ tory, a new commerce building, a new gymnasium, and eventually a building to replace University Hall. When completed, this will give the University of Arkansas one of the most complete plants of any universitv in the South. Governor Harvey Parnell Page 26

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THE GRADUATE SCEICCL ' T ' HE student in his first year of graduate work has two aims: He endeavors, by learning from others, to increase his knowledge of his chosen subject; and he tries to learn something of methods in research which will enable him to carry on his studies inde¬ pendently, to increase not only his private stores of knowledge but also the general knowledge of man¬ kind. In accordance with these two desired ends he undertakes two kinds of work, namely, courses of lectures or reading or laboratory experiments from which he expects to gain more information than he has already come into possession of from his under¬ graduate studies; and the solution of a problem by which he hopes to discover what has not before been known. Small as his discovery may be, it yet has been independent, and it is his own. The graduate school of the University of Arkansas, like all other graduate schools, keeps these two principles in mind. It requires of its students the pursuit of advanced courses under instructors competent to give them, and the completion of a thesis designed to test ability to do original work. The degree of concentration is naturally much more intense than in the under¬ graduate college, for the graduate student confines himself to two closely related fields of knowledge. His choice of courses and his thesis problem are limited by this consideration. His studies are in many respects free from the ordinary restraints of under¬ graduate work, but the purposes of graduate work he must constantly keep in mind. He must remember that interest and independence are more essential than formal requirements. A graduate school cannot be created out of hand. It must be constructed upon a significant under¬ graduate life, and not something imposed from above. You cannot, therefore, give sound graduate training without giving sound graduate work. It is impossible for the University of Arkansas to offer the Ph. D. degree at present for these very reasons, but with the present library and research facilities, the splen¬ did faculty, and the program of work outlined for graduate work, we are able to give a master’s degree with a pedigree behind it. To do this, however, absolute co-operation between students and faculty members is necessary. Page 28