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

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I GEORGE F. KAY Dean one academic year did not exceed 1,000. By 1910, the total enrollment was 1,100. Since then the growth has been very rapid until now, with an enrollment of about 5,000 students, it ranks among the largest Colleges of Liberal Arts in the United States. It now has about 250 instructors, not includ- ing assistants, and more than 500 courses are open to under- graduates. In the last year a School of Journalism was organized within the College. Music, Graphic and Plastic Arts, and Speech, including Dramatics, are being supported as liberally as are other departments in the College. Within the last few years the University Theatre, which is under the direction of the Department of Speech, has done much to stimulate dramatic production of unusual merit. Amos N. Currier, the first Dean of the Liberal Arts College, came to Iowa from Dartmouth in 1867 as a Professor of Latin. He became Dean in 1888, and continued to hold his position until his death in 1907. He was one of the most universally loved of all the early Iowa professors. He was succeeded by Laenas Gifford Weld, who for many years had been Head of the Department of Mathematics, and who had also served as Dean of Applied Science and Dean of the Graduate College. Dean Weld resigned in 1909 to become Director of the Pullman School of Manual Arts in Chicago. Prof. William Craig Wilcox, head of the Department of History, then assumed the Deanship. After his death in 1917, Prof. George F. Kay, head of the Department of Geology and State Geologist of Iowa was appointed to the position. He is a Canadian by birth, having spent his early years on a farm in Ontario. He was educated in the public schools of that province, then attended Toronto University where he received his B. A. and M. A. degrees. Later he studied at Chicago University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and accepted a position as professor of Geology at the University of Kansas. He was called to Iowa in 1907, and after ten years of service was made Dean of the Liberal Arts College. The College of Liberal Arts presents opportunity for work along the many lines of science, literature, art or history. Professional colleges now require credit in this college as pre-requisite. Dean Kay ' s office as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. In addi- tion to this position, Dean Kay is head of the committee on ad- mission and classifi- cation Page Thirty-one

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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

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T THE COLLEGE OF COMMERCE I HE establishment of the College of Commerce of the State University of Iowa was a part of a great national movement which was gradually sweeping over the country. It was not the result of any sudden desire for commercial education. It was, rather, the natural result of a slow but continuous demand that finally culminated in specific action. Even the founders of the University could forsee the future demand for commercial training for they announce in the first catalog that while the University is planned to furnish the loftiest style of culture, it is the intention to adapt in- struction to the needs of all people, including those who design to fit themselves for the common pursuits of life, such as agriculture, mechanics, and commerce. The course in political economy, which was first offered in 1858, marked the beginning of commercial education at the University. The next twenty years witnessed a gradual change in the teaching of social sciences with frequent additions to the curricula to meet the increasing demand for immediate and practical prepara- tion for various avenues of business. It was toward the latter part of this period that Universities began the organization of special departments of commerce to afford careful training in the fundamentals underlying our economic system and to carry on an intensive study of the administrative problems of business executives. In 1914 the School of Commerce was created as a part or division of the College of Liberal Arts. Up until this time commercial subjects had been taught in connec- tion with the departments of Political Science and History. Now, however, the School of Commerce was an important part of the College of Liberal Arts, attracting a great number of students to the University, for interest in commercial education had increased with great rapidity by this time. This form of organization, however, did not prove adequate to meet the demand for vocational training, and in 1921 it became necessary to organize the College of Commerce, giving it full coordinate rank with the other colleges of the University. Chester A. Phillips, who was then Professor of Banking and Finance was made Dean of the newly organized College. I TT University Hall, fin- ished this year and opened for classes the latter part of Novem- ber, completes the group of buildings about Old Capitol. Commerce classes are held in this building. Page Thirty-two