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

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ADELAIDE L. BI ' RUK Dean of Women II case her vork is not satisfactory and her teachers send reports of failure or generally poor work, she is notified and requested to come here for a conference with the hope that investigation may reveal the reason for her poor scholarship. If it is dis- covered that she is carrying too heavy a schedule, either be- cause of outside work or poor health, she is advised to petition through this office for a reduction and thus the situation is relieved. If after this, her failure seems imminent, this office writes her parents, believing that it is right to keep them informed concerning their daughter ' s progress. The girl her- self is made to realize the importance of maintaining good scholarship when her standing is revealed through a comparison made possible by the compilation of grades into a general average for groups and individuals in the Liberal Arts College, the comparison being made in this office. The Dean ' s office has charge of the assignment of rooms in Currier Hall and its Annexes for the regular school year and the Summer Session. Homes where University girls are to live are inspected for the purpose of improving them and instructing landladies concerning their duties. The Dean ' s office also has charge of Freshman lectures. Dean Adelaide Lasheck Burge was born in Iowa City. She attended the public schools, graduating from the Iowa City High School, and later she received the degree of Ph B. from the University of Iowa. She was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and was one of the speakers at the Commencement Exercises in 1900. She taught in the High School at Harlan, Iowa, and at Iowa City. In 1902 she was married to Dr. Albertus J. Burge who was for many years a member of the faculty in the College of Medicine. After his death in 1918 she became secretary to Mrs. Nellie S. Aurner, then Dean of Women, and after Mrs. Aurner ' s resignation in 1921 she became Dean of Women, the position that she now holds. Office of the Dean of Women, through which the University main- tains contact with its women students. Dean Surge ' s office occupies the northwestern quar- ter of the ground floor in Old Capitol. Page Twenty-nine

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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

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THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS A HISTORY of the College of Liberal Arts would be . practically a history of the University. The College of Liberal Arts is the very center, the very heart, so to speak, of the University. It is the center from which most of the other colleges have sprung. It is the oldest and largest of all the Colleges on the campus. Although the University was founded February 25, 1847, it is interesting to note that the first classes were held in 1855 in Mechanic ' s Academy, which occupied the square where the Hospital now stands. The faculty numbered three at this time and the total enrollment numbered nineteen students. The first collegiate degree, that of Bachelor of Science was conferred at the close of the school year in 1858. After the close of this school year the Collegiate Department, as it was then called, was suspended until 1860 in order to conserve funds. In 1858 the Board of Trustees decided to exclude women from regular instruction in the Collegiate Department. However, the State Board of Education was not pleased with this action so it passed an act requiring the University to admit the sexes on equal terms. Old South Hall, the first building to be built for the express use of the University, was completed a year later and classes were held in it when the Collegiate Department opened again after its suspension. The Chapel, the present Home Economics building, was erected in 1866. At this time all students were requi red to attend chapel exercises daily. The College of Liberal Arts occupied Old South Hall together with the College of Medicine and the College of Engineer- ing until it burned in 1901. A year later, the Hall of Liberal Arts, the first of the new buildings to be built, was dedicated. Since that time other buildings have been completed and today the College of Libral Arts occupies many of the buildings on the campus. During the early years there were fewer than ten departments. Now, there are twenty-four. In the first thirty years of its existence, the enrollment for any Liberal Arts, where all Freshmen and Soph- omore non-professionai students have their classes. It also harbors those upper classmen who have elected L. A. as their major. Page Thirty