University of Illinois - Illio Yearbook (Urbana Champaign, IL)

Page 21 text:

Experiment Stations Provide Research Advancement During the Last quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury, the increase in research was rapid. Funda- mental to research is adequate financial backing; and at the University major strides towards funding research were made with the forma- tion of the Agricultural Experiment Station, the Engineering Experiment Station, and the Graduate College. From the beginning of the University, Pro- fessor Robinson had conducted successful engi- neering laboratory courses. Acting as a catalyst in instituting further laboratory instruction, Arthur Newell Talbot's hydraulics laboratory was opened in 1893. In the 1890's new cur- riculums were added in architectural, electri- cal, and municipal and sanitary engineering. These new courses were reflections of the in- creasing specialization. The Engineering Experiment Station greatly stimulated research after its founding in 1903, although there was research before its existence. Some of its developments soon after 1903 were the accoustical studies of F. R. Watson, the development of photoelectrical cells by Jacob Kung, and the perfection of alkalic vapor tubes by C. T. Knipp. At the outset, professional societies and state laboratories co-operated with the Experiment Station. Soon industry gave support to research. Experiments with coal, for example, were fi- nanced in part by the Illinois Gas Association. The First World War greatly accelerated co- operative research. The Engineering Foundation and the National Research Council, for instance, sponsored research investigating materials used in airplane and ship construction. After the funds provided by the Hatch Act of 1887 became available, the Agricultural Experi- ment Station was formed. In 1888 the Station sent out its first BULLETIN. By 1894 Dean Davenport found that the Station was engaged in over 150 experiments and had issued over t hirty-three BULLETINS in its first seven years. And there was a demand for more experimenta- tion. Accordingly, in 1902, in conjunction with the Bureau of Soils of the Department of Agri- Agriculture professors held short-courses in corn judging. culture, the Station made soil surveys. Also in 1902 co-operative investigations were made with individual farmers. The Station's research was reaching out more and more to the Illinois farmer. The college's staff often prepared exhibits for stock shows. Short courses and conferences came into greater use after 1900. At a series of mid-winter con- ferences in 1903, 100 people attended the horti- culturists' conference, 250 attended the corn- growers' conference, and 250 attended the house- keepers' convention. Thus an extension program gave to the farmer and to agricultural industry the benefits of research. This railroad car carried home economics demonstrations to all parts of the state.

Page 20 text:

German Scholarship Exerts Great Influence at University Though the fate of the humanities and agri- culture at the University appeared uncertain with the rapid rise of engineering, a number of factors contributed to stabilize and increase their influence. In the humanities the greatest impact was that of German scholarship. This great force in revising American higher education was of inestimable value. In agriculture two federal acts the Hatch Act and the second Morrill Act— provided the needed funds to finance the present course and to enlarge the scope of the agriculture program. The Hatch Act of 1887 provided $15,000 an- nually for the maintenance of an experiment sta- tion. In 1890 the second Morrill Act doubled this endowment, providing funds for instruction in agriculture, engineering, and auxiliary sub- jects. Though the act aided agriculture, it also had other far-reaching results. In the text of the bill, the maker stated that the funds also be used for auxiliary subjects, therefore implying that land grant colleges, cur- riculums should not be narrowly based. The other important result was that since the aug- mented income from the endowment almost cov- ered faculty salaries, Regent Peabody feared that the legislature might withdraw its support. Peabody therefore used the new fund to expand the faculty. In the next year and a half, new professors of chemistry, mining engineering, French, Greek, and pedagogy and psychology were added, as were instructors in gymnastics, rhetoric and philosophy. National Education Changes At a time when the University was expanding physically and also increasing the number of courses offered, a rapid change was taking place in national higher education. This change was the proliferation of research and specialization, will) their concomitants of organization and pub- lication. There were many factors which quick- ened this change l he work of immigrant schol- 16 ars, the growth of national learned societies, and adequate financial resources. The rise of specialization signaled a basic change in the intellectual ideals of American higher education. Though this change had taken place sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, its pace kept quickening during the last half cen- tury. Prior to 1850 the ideal of higher education had been to acquire and transmit the greatest possible amount of knowledge. After mid-century the ideal came more to be the discovery of new truth through original investigation. The single greatest impact causing the shift in emphasis was that of German scholarship. During the nineteenth century an increasing number of American students journeyed to Ger- many to study. And between the War of 1812 and World War I, 10,000 American students attended German universities. Scholars at Illinois were among those whc studied at German universities. Arthur W. Pal- mer, '83, who helped to direct the chemistry de- partment to its modern role, had studied a1 Gottingen and Berlin. George W. Myers, '88 held a doctorate in mathematics from Municl and taught at the University of Illinois. Under the influence of specialization, manj disciplines took their modern form. History, fo example, had experienced little forward develop ment at the University from 1868 to 1894. Bu with the arrival of E. B. Greene in 1894, this de partment was reorganized, offering courses oi the Reformation, the Puritan Revolution, an the French Revolution. C. W. Alvord's life- he came to the University in 1897— well illus- trates the activities of the men who transforme the history department. In 1905 Alvord discovered in two Souther Illinois courthouses stores of documents datin back to Illinois' French colonial period. Alvon published many of these documents in the COI LECTIONS of the Illinois State Historical L brary. Active in the Mississippi Valley Historic; Society, he began the MISSISSIPPI VALLF HISTORICAL REVIEW in 1914. Alvord, thei who specialized, conducted research, partic pated in learned professional societies, and pul lished books and articles, was one of the me who were active in reconstructing discipline and departments, and in transforming colleg into true universities.

Page 22 text:

Graduate School Reorganizes In 1904 the liberal arts departments were concerned about the imbalance between the humanities, and engineering and agriculture. Following the inauguration of President Edmund Janes James, the Graduate School was reorgan- ized to correct this imbalance and to emphasize research and better teaching. Only those de- partments whose staffs were considered capable were allowed to offer the masters and doctors degrees. The Illinois Legislature, in 1907, ap- propriated five thousand dollars a year for the establishment of fellowships and scholar- ships, and for the equipping of research lab- oratories. James recruited some of the best scholars available. Among the additions were Gustav Karsten, founder of the JOURNAL OF ENG- LISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY; Wil- liam Albert Noyes, chief chemist of the Bureau of Standards; and Stuart Pratt Sherman, lit- erary critic. With the advent of the Engineering Experimenl Station, many besting machines such as this one were used. Edmund J. James, president from 1904 to L920, wafl distinguished scholar in welfare economics. IK