University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

Page 13 text:

ON MAY 4, 1961, GEORGE WELLS BEADLE WAS OFFI- cially installed as the seventh chief executive oth- cer of the University of Chicago. He had been se- lected by the Board of Trustees of the University after almost a year-long search which was under- taken upon the resignation of Lawrence A. Kimp- ton on March 29, 1961. President Beadle was for- merly the Acting Dean of the Faculty and Chair- man of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, California. He has also been 011 the faculties of Cornell Uni- versity, Stanford University, and Harvard. He is a distinguished geneticist, and in 1958 he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in fun- damental genetics. During his first year in office, President Beadle has changed outmoded policies and instituted new ones. He has proved to be a man who is able to step into a new situation and view it with a clear in- sight. The following is the Context of an inter- view with president Beadle, made one year after he took office. Interviewer: Mr. Beadle, you have held the chief administrative ofEce of the University for almost one year; what are some of the major administra- tive problems that you have encountered during that time? Mr. Beadle: The two most important aspects of any university are its faculty and its students. The excellence of a university is directly dependent on these two factors, and our major problem at the University of Chicago is to maintain both a facw ulty and a student body of high quality. As to the faculty, we are trying to keep strength where we have it and to add strength to areas where we most need it. The University has always had more strength in some areas than in others. In recent years the Divisions of Physical Sciences and of the Biological Sciences have had the advanA rage of availability of funds from government agencies. The Humanities and Social Sciences have been in a less favorable position in this re- gard. One problem is to achieve a. more equitable balance in hnancial support of the several areas of the University. One way of attracting the faculty members we need, especially in Humanities and Social Sci- ences, is to strengthen our library facilities. Our present library is excellent in quality but is fall- ing behind in size. The physical facilities are both inefficient in arrangement and inadequate in size. The solution lies in finding funds for a new li- brary building. We also can attract new faculty members in other areas with better physical facilities. The Coi- lege physical facilities are inadequate. The Col- lege science teaching labs are woefully limited. The music and art teaching and research facilities too, are notoriously poor. Many departments in the rest of the University also need physical im- provement: Meteorology and Psychology both are badly housed. This list is by no means exhaustive. The answer again is funds to improve the facili- ties.

Page 12 text:

PRESIDENT GEORGE WELLS BEADLE

Page 14 text:

The second primary factor to be considered is the University's student body. The situation in the College is a unique one. Teaching is done by faculty members who want to teach. Many faculty members hold joint appointments in the Divisions and the College, adding stimulation of research activities to teaching. The result is a hliberal arts college, set down in the midst of a great univer- sity. It has the advantages of both, through its ac- tive collaboration between the College and the graduate facilities. The advantages and quality of the College are such that it should attract the best student body in the country. A major problem of the graduate student in the University is the lack of adequate scholarship and fellowship assistance. Most universities use teach- ing assistantships as a device to support graduate students. Chicago believes teaching should be done by full-time faculty, and 50 we have very few assistantships. Therefore we need increased funds for fellowships, again especially in the Social Sci- ences and Humanities. The University dOes provide unique Opportu- nities for its graduate students in some Fields, such as the Argonne Laboratory. The University oper- ates this laboratory under contract with the Atom- ic Energy Commission of the United States Gov- ernment, and its facilities are available to faculty and graduate students of the University. Through the Associated Midwest Universities, some 31 oth- er universities of the llidwest likewise depend on the Laboratory's facilities for research, espe- cially reactor research and high-energy physics. Our graduate students in appmpriate areas have the opportunity to work at this unique facility with the most advanced equipment available. 10