University of Detroit - Tower Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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To the Class of 1934 HE graduating class this year is entering an economic world in process of reconstruction. Their entry into it at this time will deprive them of many advantages attending a more settled state of society. On the other hand, it will afford opportunities to the alert and thoughtful graduate who can bring character and training, as well as ideas, to whatever work, even the humblest, may fall to his lot in these days of new policies and new programs. If there is to be regeneration in the economic world, it must be on lines of moral and spiritual principles which have formed the highest civilization in history and of which we are the heirs. If those principles had always been in honor, modern society, and, specifically, the modern economic world, would be happier and less confused than they are. Our only hope is a return to a prac- tical observance of those principles. What those principles are no graduate of the University of Detroit need inquire. He has been taught the cardinal truths that an habitual and sincere desire to serve his fellow-men should accompany, and take precedence over, a desire to build up a private fortune; that integrity of character is more valuable than monetary profits; that charity and justice are virtues whose claims are never in abeyance; that spiritual values, though secret and unseen, are infinitely more important to ourselves and to others than any kind or degree of material success. It is highly probable that adherence to these principles will not handicap the worker of the future so much as it sometimes did formerly. It is even probable that it will assist him in the new order of things where the selfishness of the old order is in bad repute. That thought makes me hopeful of the class of ’34. I wish them God-speed. And I trust this year’s Tower will remind them in days to come of the principles they have been here taught to revere, and of the lively and affectionate interest myself and all the faculty shall take in their future careers. NM athe President A2A,A

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VERY REVEREND ALBERT H. POETKER, S.J. PRESIDENT A 26 A

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THE ADMINISTRATION ONDUCTED under the auspices of the members of the Jesuit order, the University of Detroit began its educational work in 1877. For the first two years the school functioned as an academy and in the school term of 1879- 1880 the first of the colleges, the Arts School, was established. Three fathers and two scholas- tics constituted the original faculty. Eighty-four students were enrolled for the first courses of- fered. In 1881 according to the laws of the state of Michigan the school was incorporated under the title of Detroit College. It was given the power to grant such literary honors and to confer such degrees as are usually conferred by similar col- leges and institutions of learning in the United States. From its inception the University has enjoyed a normal and controlled expansion. A re- organization of Detroit College was effected in 1911, when it was incorporated under the title of the University of Detroit. At that time the Arts College became known as the College of Arts and Sciences and offered a program of even- ing courses designed to aid professional men. Since that time various departments of univer- sity education have been added in rapid suc- cession. The College of Engineering was begun before the close of the year of the University’s new organization. The School of Law was insti- tuted the following year in 1912. Four years Frederic Siedenburg, S.J., M.A. Secretary and Executive Dean George L. Reno, S.J., M.A. Vice-President later, the Evening College of Commerce and Fi- nance made its appearance. It preceded the opening of a day college of similar instruction by six years. Another new college was organ- ized in 1932 from which year the School of Dentistry dates its establishment. Graduate degrees were conferred for the first time in 1885; however, the more complete or- ganization of graduate studies was not effected until 1927. Two years prior to this date, in 1925, the extension course division and the summer school were definitely organized. Norbert J. Preusser, S.J., B.C.S., M.A. Treasurer A 2A