University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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and ability we are all familiar, but the seventeen visiting members are strange to us, and so it may be well to look at them for a moment. Professor Earnest Carroll Moore was Dean of the session. He is not yet an entire stranger, as it was only recently that he was called away from the Department cf Education here to take the position of Superintendent of Schools in Los Angeles. His work in the Department of Education acquainted him with the teachers through- out the state and with the faculty of the university. And this, together with his knowledge of educational methods, made Professor Moore admirably suited for the position of Dean. Professor George Burton Adams of Yale, was here, perhaps the greatest living authority on mediaeval history, and with him were Professor Raymond Dodge of Wesleyan University, in the Department of Psychology, and Professor Alcee For- tier from Tulane University, in the Department of Romance Languages. Professor Hugo De Vries from the University of Amsterdam, who has for sev- eral years attended the summer sessions, was here again, developing new ideas in the science of botany. Professor J. Fred Turner of the University of Wisconsin, the foremost authority on American history in the world, gave some very interesting courses in United States history. He was greatly enthused over the Bancroft Library. He passed through it diligently throughout the six weeks of the session, and then, as he closed the last book, he exclaimed : Well, I ' ll have to come back here and write you a brand new book on just what I ' ve learned this summer. Professor Earnest Rutherford of McGill University, was another of the world- famous men who was here last summer. Thus we see what a distinguished and scholarly collection of men composed the faculty of last summer. Is it any wonder, then, that a high seriousness should have pervaded the student body ? That the summer sessions are a great thing for the university is confirmed by all who write on the subject. In the first place they establish better relations with other

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courses in eleven different departments; by 1904, nine hundred and thirteen students, seventy-one instructors and twenty-five departments represented, while in last year ' s session are recorded over one thousand students, seventy-eight instructors and thirty- two departments. At the same time these sessions have been improving in quality. In the early nineties, they were merely a sanitarium for deficient undergraduates; later in the nineties the arrival of high school instructors raised the standard of the student body. Then, in 1 900, classical subjects were introduced into the curriculum and at the same time the practice of having visiting talent in the faculty was inaugurated. These two developed and expanded together. Courses began to be offered for university graduates and research work was begun. New ideas, facts never before revealed by the learned world, began to be set forth. In short, the summer session be- came a center of learning for the Pacific Coast. Albert Augustus Stanley, Professor of Music in the University of Michigan, himself a member of the summer faculty in 1 904, writes in the same year concerning the summer session : May I venture a prophecy ? The University of California will be the center of all forms of culture at no distant time. The whole atmosphere is full of inspiration to do, and ultimately the circle of the arts and sciences will not lack even the smallest segment. As we have already seen, the 1906 session had the largest enrollment of both students and faculty in the history or the summer sessions. The student body was composed of a heterogeneous mass of teachers, doctors, lawyers, college folk, business men, trades people, matrons and housewives, and, in fact, representatives of nearly every calling in life. The distinctive tone of the body was a high seriousness and a spirit of work. Their work was not unmingled with recreation. Every week one could see Professor Magee at the head of a big pilgrimage to the Big C or else leading the more ambitious trampers up the dizzy path to Grizzly. Trips to Tamalpais and ex- cursions to other resorts about the bay were not uncommon. Every Thursday after- noon the Symphony Orchestra or the Minetti Quartet gave a concert in the Greek theater, and on these occasions the theater was crowded. The visiting faculty were more particularly entertained. The greater part of them stayed at the Faculty club, where some very stirring discussions were held, and some very warm friendships with our California men made. The people of both Berkeley and San Francisco also treated them most hospitably. Since 1 902 the University club has held an annual dinner in their honor, and since 1 904 the Uni- tarian club has given them a like annual dinner. These are only two of the many dinners and parties by which both clubs and individuals entertained the visiting faculty. Week end jaunts and excursions round the state gave the visitors a fair look at Cali- fornia. There were sixty-one California men in last summer ' s faculty. With their work

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institutions of learning. California is so peculiarly situated that it has little opportu- nity for personal intercourse with fellow-workers in other institutions. Hence there is great danger that both faculty and students be isolated to their intellectual detri- ment. Obviously, then, the calling of fellow-workers from afar to a summer faculty is beneficial. Scholars mingle with California professors in their own home, they see the university through friendships with her own men, and the University is thus drawn closer to other institutions. The Summer Session, moreover, stimulates an interchange of men among the various universities. It enables our university with better insight to call men to our faculty, and on the other hand enables scholars from other universities to mark the California men of highest worth. Results of this knowledge on both sides have already been signally realized. Witness Professor Gilman and Professor Stratton, for- merly of California, called to Johns Hopkins University; and see Professor Henry Morse Stephens, first here in the 1 902 Summer Session, and then immediately made a fixture. Again, the Summer Session is a good substitute on American soil for student migra- tion so common in European universities. This going about of under-graduates from university to university is rather discountenanced here in America despite the fact that it is in many ways a good policy. The Summer Session, however, accom- plishes practically the same end. The session, further, stimulates the introduction of new subjects and phases of subjects into the curriculum. Experiments are made during the summer, and when they prove successful, are made a part of the regular course. Thus, three years ago, under Professor Stanley, courses in music were attempted. Today we have Dr. Wolle and the Symphony Orchestra. Professor De Vnes introduced a new side of botany in his lectures this new side is now in the botany curriculum. Again, the Summer Session gives stimulus to high schools, and, in fact, to the whole range of educational institutions in the state. More and more it is becoming the place of the University to be at the head of education in the state. It must direct, guide and spur on the state ' s teachers. Experience has shown that the best and surest way to accomplish these ends is through personal contact with the teachers. As the summer is the only time to get these teachers at their leisure, the summer session is admirably suited in every way for the purpose. Courses are offered pri- marily for teachers, the cleverest educational men are brought in contact with them, and, in fact, everything possible is done to make the session profitable for teachers. Finally, the summer session is self-supporting. Of all the university ' s sessions, this one alone is no drain on the university ' s wealth. Sometimes it even goes further, and is a source of wealth for the University purse. This is the Summer Session. Surely it merits our attention and the passing word of recognition given here.