University of Missouri at Kansas City - Kangaroo Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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A Woird from ur President-Elect HIS A annual, published by the first class to graduate from the Uni- versity of Kansas City, is an account of the life' and activities of the Uni- versity by the students themselves. They are the charter members of what will some day constitute a large and influ- ential body of loyal alumni of the College of Liberal Arts, the first unit of the University to be fully estab- lished. At the invitation of the editors, I am happy to contribute a few words by way of commending it to all who are interested in the University which, like Kansas City,s Orchestra, its Nelson Gallery of Art and its art schools, is of, for, and by Kansas City. 1. It is of Kansas City. Cities, like countries and like individuals, have their own character. Kansas City is not just another city. Its geographical position, its trade connections with east and west, and north and south, its history, its civic spirit, give it a peculiar and unique position among the cities ot the Union. The University of Kan- sas City is not to be just another uni- versity, but will foster, develop and express on the background of our com- mon national and cultural heritage what is best and most worthy in the spirit of the city and the region of which it is the commercial and in- tellectual center. 2. The University is for Kansas City, primarily and immediately for the young men and women of Kansas City and its contiguous region, to give to them the opportunities and train them in the responsibilities that a university education affords, without compelling them to seek these advantages at a dis- tance and weakening the ties that bind them to their community. Local and national universities both have their place in our educational life. Both are necessary to a healthy and normal de- velopment of all our faculties as a peo- ple and a nation. But educational standards and the ideals of scholar- ship, among students and teachers, can be and must be as high in a local as in a national university, if it is to be worthy of its name. The University is not only for the undergraduates, but for all the citizens who wish to avail themselves of its opportunities. We be- lieve in University Extension and Adult Education and shall, so far as our means and standards permit, offer opportunities for advancement to all who are willing to work and capable of profiting by the instruction offered. The University of Kansas City will be for Kansas City because as it continues it will in increasing numbers send into the professional and business circles of the community, citizens not only skilled in their vocations, but trained to recog- nize those deeper human values on which all enduring social and indi- vidual welfare depends. 3. The University is by Kansas City. It is voluntarily supported, de- pending on the tuition fees of its stu- dents, and the free gifts of its weli- wishers. As its service is directly local fContinued on Page 202 Page 11 A

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The President-Elect FTER three years of educational and spiritual growth, the Univerf sity of Kansas City feit qualified to enlist the services of a nationally known educator to guide its destinies. The University demanded leadership of a vigorous, progressive scholar, as Well as a practical educator. A strik- ing personality emhodying hoth of these essentials was asked to hecome the first president of the University of Kansas City. It was a great day in the history of this institution when Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth accepted this invitation. A' native of Philadelphia, Dr. Spaeth graduated from the University of Pennsylvania hefore taking graduate work at the University of Leipzig, in v By HORACE KIMBRELL Germany, where he received his Ph. D. degree. He continued his studies in France and Italy before returning to this country, Where he began a long and hrilliant educational career Which has carried him to positions in many of our country's outstanding schools, including Gustavus Adoiphus Col- lege, University of California, Univer- sity of Qregon, University of Southern California, Reed College, and Prince- ton University. He has received the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature from Muhlenberg and the University of Pittsburgh, and for many years has been an outstanding author and con- trihutor to periodicals. In the field of physical endeavors fcontinued on Page 50,

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HILE the organization and cle- velopment of the University of Kansas City has loeen an important civic movement gaining momentum as the years have passed, the worli of one man has heen singularly outstanding in its growth. Ernest l-lenry Newcomh was among the first to sense the need and visualize the possibilities of a Uni- versity in this locality. Born in Virginia and educated in Missouri, he loegan an educational career at a very early age. At eighteen he hegan teaching in the rural schools of southern Missouri. Soon thereafter he hecame principal of the grade puh- lic schools of Neosho, Missouri, and later was graduated from Springfield State Teachers College and the Uni- versity of Missouri. At the age ol: twenty-four he was elected Superin- tendent of Schools of Newton County, Missouri. l'le was the organizer of the r The Executive Secretary K By HORACE KIMBRFLL lVlissouri Methodist Foundation, Co- lumloia, Missouri, and is a former president of Central College for Women. ln 1925 he is found in the midst of activities to estahlish a Uni- versity for Kansas City, and for three years thereafter served as Executive Secretary and outstanding leader ol The Lincoln and Lee movement. ln 1928 he was chosen Executive Secre- tary of the University of Kansas City movement in which capacity he served through its period of organization and continues to the present time. His capacity lor Worlc and construc- tive planning amazes all who lcnow him. A veritalole dynamo of human energy, his leadership permeates every phase of University activity. The Uni- versity of Kansas City exists today a splendid trihute to a man who has dedicated his life to a dream now heing fulfilled. Page 12