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

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Dean anford By HORACE KIMBRELL N THE formation of the College of Liberal Arts in the University of Kansas City, no greater decision pre- sented itself to the Board of Trustees than the choice of a dean to huild and lead the college. A careful study was conducted to consider qualifications, experiences and personalities of many educators. Among these, the record of Grin Grover Sanford was outstanding, and he was asked to become the first dean of the University of Kansas City. Dean Sanford is a native of Missouri and a graduate of the Kirksvilie State Teachers College and the University of Missouri. After concluding further graduate study at the University of Colorado, he hegan a long and hrii- liant career as an educator which led him to the highest offices in the State Department of Education of Missouri., and to the place of Assistant State Superintendent of Public Schools of Missouri under the subsidy of the Gen- eral Education Board in New York City. From this work he was called in 1953 to his present position, where he took over his new duties hy help- ing in the selection of the first faculty. His career at the University of Kan- sas City has more than justified the faith and responsibility placed in him hy the Board of Trustees, for the steady growth of the University presented many problems which required vital decisions. His pedagogical soundness, his practical progressive nature, and his power of cooperation have helped to establish firmly a full four-year Col- lege of Liheral Arts. Page 13

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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

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cc By HARRY J. KAUFMANN, JR. HAT is the caption a headline writer lor a local newspaper gave the story of the dedication ol the Uni- versity of Kansas City nearly three years ago. It was a singularly appro- priate description ol the occasion. The University, as it toolc shape in the prophecies ol the speakers at the open- ing convocation, October 1, 1955, was indeed a newusun rising to help dis- perse the fog that had long enshrouded the city,s cultural life. There never had been a university in Kansas City in all its near-century of history. For higher learning native youth was forced to turn to out-ol-town institutions. Par- ticularly those unable to go outside the city suffered from the laclc of a university. Even though the University ol Kansas City was offering only the first two years ol college worli as it opened, a four-year college of liberal arts was only two years away, and further develop- ment ol schools which malqe up a true university was a del- inite goal. It was an event to be looked upon as the realiza- tion of the ,dreams of many civic-minded persons, the fruit ol many years, preparationg r but also as just the first step in a new and infinitely longer taslc. Kansas City again was on the pfoneer trail. That the university movement tooli hold in the city at the same time the other cultural ventures were suddenly materializing indicated Kansas City was awakening to a side of its life never before emphasized so strongly. An art gallery comparable to some ol the worlds greatest in size and endow- ment was the gilt of William Roclchill Nelson and others. It was dedicated only three months after the University ol Kansas City opened its doors. A philharmonic orchestra with a conduc- tor ol international status emerged simultaneously. ln the same year, Kan- sas City began to progress in art, in music, and in education, despite the fact that the nation was in the depths of the depression. Why the University of Kansas City should appear on the scene at this time is a story that spans many years ol struggle by men ol vision against discouraging obstacles. For a long time a university had been a euphemistic Hprojectn in Kan- sas City. Somehow it never came out of the realm of discussion until the post-war decade. ln 1922 a Chamber Page 14