University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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Appreciation o Dean ones By pres1'Jent Northrop 030 My memory at once goes back to the fall of l880, when Fred S. Jones came to Yale College from Shattuck School in Minnesota, where he had fitted for college, and brought a letter of introduction to me from one of the teachers in Shattuck, a graduate of Yale. From that time till the close of his college course he was often a visitor at my house, and I came to know him intimately. I was impressed by his mental ability, his independence, his frankness and his manliness. In the spring of l884 I accepted the presidency of the University of Min- nesota, and a few weeks later I selected Mr. Jones as a desirable professor of physics, and I notified him of my wish that he should specially prepare himself for the position. This he did by special study two years in Europe, after which he came to the University of Minnesota as professor of physics, and he has held the position for twenty years, during which time he has practically created the department and has made it one of the strongest departments in the University. l-lis assistants are all men whom he himself has trained, though some of them have studied in Europe, and he has been peculiarly wise and fortunate in selecting them. As a consequence his department is perfectly harmonious, and every man in it is devoted to the head of the department. Some years ago Professor Jones was made Dean of the College of Engineering. l-le brought order out of seeming chaos in this college, put new vigor into every department, raised the standard of scholarship, has now provided for a five-year course, of which a reasonable portion shall be devoted to culture, and has made the college an example for other tech- nical schools in the country to follow. The Regents of the University have learned AI9

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Dean Frederick Jones !8

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,,.,,,..,,4...,.,.,. .. Mc.: ,..,...,.4.4i- ss, -':.,.,..-.g,.,s....usas.g..A W ' f ,L :4g,M g3.L,:, 4,9 ,, . .............,. ,An ,,,,, to trust his judgment and his fairness implicitly and his estimates and recommenda- tions are almost always approved by them. For years Dean Jones was the Faculty Director of Athletics, appointed as such by the Board of Regents, and in that office he succeeded in enforcing the regulations of the Faculty and in controlling the sometimes erratic ebullitions of student passion. l-le is young in his feelings. Students find him eminently frank, fair and sympathetic. No man is more capable of using words that will perfectly convey his meaning, and no student need ever misunderstand him. l-le will do everything he can to meet the wishes of students, and no student will ever induce him to do anything which he does not think is consistent with the best interests of the college. He is one of the most companionable of men. l-le has been a member of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Min- nesota in virtue of holding the Professorship of Physics. l-le has also been the Dean of the College of Engineering. No one could have been more loyal and just to both positions than he has been. l-le has never forgotten that he graduated at Yale in the classical course and has never ceased to value that course, though his own special Work has been in science and in the promotion of engineering. l-le is firm, outspoken, and eminently courageous. He is wise in administration. Yale College is to be congratulated most heartily on securing him for Dean. l may be pardoned for saying that l know he would not leave me even for the very honorable position in Yale to which he has been called, if I had resisted his leav- ing, but l have been willing to have him go to Yale because I think he will do Yale a great deal of good. But I shall part with him with the deepest regret- l lose from my daily companionship a loyal and delightful friend and Yale Col- lege gains a first class Dean, who will be an inspiration to his colleagues, a leader in University development, and a gracious and helpful friend to the students-sym- pathizing with them most heartily in both their manly sports and their scholarly studies. CFrom a letter written May 5, 1908, for publication in the Yale News, upon request of the editorj ' za. sf - ee- -a-as-:sw-W--ww, sms---faqewf-sg-W5.,...Lx -sw: ,,. --f-- 1 20 .,....a.a.,.,,,,, , Y.,