University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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?K KOBKRT E. RlENOW Dean of Men reports were sent out from time to time and absence regu- lations did not require reports by the instructors. Little attention had been paid to group life. Practically no time had been found to look after rooming conditions or the health conditions of the students. The only assistance offered self-supporting students was that given by the Y. M. C. A. Since that period, that is during the past twelve years, the work of the office of Dean of Men has grown to very larg? proportions. So great is the amount of work that there is now a corps of four office assistants besides Air. Carl Morrow who is Assistant to the Dean. The office of the Dean of Men is in no way a disciplinary office. On the contrary, its purpose is to advise and assist the men students in the problems that are bound to come up in their college life. The Dean acts as advisor to Freshmen and Sophomores in the matter of registration. The office looks after attendance and investigates cases of repeated absence from classes. The office grants excuses for absence and looks after the academic work of the men students as a whole. It does a great work as an employment bureau, rinding jobs for those men who find it necessary to put themselves through school. The office also takes a general interest in student health and its relation to academic work. It attends to the administration of dormitory, fraternity, and other student groups and exercises a very great influence in the administration of social regulations. Dean Robert E. Ricnow was born at North McGregor, Iowa. He received his preliminary education in the schools of Marquette, Iowa, and Praire du Chien, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1894, receiving a B. A. degree. After his graduation from Wisconsin Dean Rienow taught in several High Schools and was Superintendent of Schools at Independence, Iowa, when he was called to the University. He is a member of Beta Theta Pi and of the Masonic order. Office of the Dean of Men, the guiding cen- ter of student campus life and activity. Dean Rienow has an active interest in every phase of campus problems concerned with men. n B Page Twenty-seven

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THE DEAN OF MEN 1HE office of Dean of Men is of fairly recent origin. It has come into existence because of the great number of varied problems in the life of a school the size of the University of Iowa. When the University was young the professors were personally acquainted with the students and a great amount of personal service work was not necessary. But now with the several thousand students that there are here, it is necessary to have someone who is trained for this work and who can devote full time to it. Hence, the Dean of Men. The title Dean of Men was not used at the University previous to 1913, when it was granted to Dr. F. C. Ensign, then Registrar. Any personal work done among the men was done by Dr. Ensign. His duties as Registrar, however, were so extensive that it was impossible for him to devote much time or effort to this other duty. At this time President John G. Bowman became convinced that as the University grew in size, it was quite necessary that machinery be established to keep in touch with the personal and social relations of the students as well as their academic training. With this thought in mind, he looked about for some institution where this work had been carried on and found that at the University of Illinois, where Thomas Arkle Clark held the position of Dean of Men, the work had progressed splendidly and was exercising a worth while influence on the lives of the students. This method appealed to President Bowman so strongly that he called Robert E. Rienow to the University to devote all his time to personal work among the men. He came as Assistant Professor in the Department of Education, but all his time was devoted to student relations under Dr. Ensign, who still retained his position as Registrar. His title was soon changed to Advisor of Men and later to Dean of Men. At the time that Dean Rienow came to the University there was no provision made for personal service by any of the colleges on the campus. A few delinquency Old Capitol, since its reconstruction, houses the main administra- tive offices of the Uni- versity. Said to be the most perfect piece of architecture in the middle west. Page Twenty-six

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u THE DEAN OF WOMEN NTJL 1900 there was no Dean of Women at the State University of Iowa. There were no hours, no social regulations and the like. What little work that had been done in the way of looking out for the welfare of the women students had been carried on by the President of the University and the heads of the various departments, for the enrollment was not yet large enough to warrant the appoint- ment of one officer to devote full time to this work. How- ever, as the attendance at the University increased so did the problems of the women students increase, and in 1900 Miss Alice Young was appointed Dean of Women. Dean Young served for four years, her place being taken by Mary Sleight Evarts in 1904. Two years later Mable Montgomery Volland was appointed to succeed Dean Evarts. Dean Volland served until 1909 when Anna Marie Klingenhagen was elected to office. She was succeeded by Nellie Slayton Aurner in 1918. Dean Aurner was in office for three years until she was succeeded by Adelaide Lasheck Burge, in 1921. The duties of the Dean of Women are many and varied. Every phase of the college life of the young woman is taken into consideration. She first comes in contact with this office when she writes concerning her room in the dormitory or in an approved home, and at registration time if she be Freshman, Sophomore, or unclassified student, the Dean of Women acts as her advisor in the selection of her courses. Throughout the year her attendance at classes and her scholarship are care- fully watched. If word comes from her instructor that she is absenting herself from her classes she is summoned to the office and asked to give her reason unless she has already done this by filing an excuse here. All of her absences, excused and those that count as cuts are on record in the Office of the Dean of Women. In Currier Hall, the Uni- versity dormitory for women, is an ideal place for co-eds. Its popularity is evidenced by its inabilit y to ac- commodate those who wish to live there. Page Twenty-eight