University of Nebraska Lincoln - Cornhusker Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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ENGINEERING EnqinaerinQ students exp«ritnenling in machonics. A view of the reirigeralion apparatus in the laboratory. DEAN Ferguson is a native ol flnnawan, Illin- ois, but most of his life and education have been in Nebraska. His high school days were spent in Dorchester; he was graduated in 1903 from the University of Nebraska. For the two years following, he was employed by the Gen- eral Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. His masters degree in electrical engi- neering was received at Union University, also in Schenectady. For the next seven years, Mr. Ferguson was an instructor of electrical engineering at Union. He recalls with pride that he worked there immediately under Dr. C. P. Steinmetz, chief consulting engineer for General Electric, who is widely known as the wizard of Schenec- tady . Mr. Ferguson came to Nebraska in 1912 tc become chairman of the department of elec- trical engineering, and in 1918 when Dean Stout went into war service, Mr. Ferguson became acting dean of the College of Engi- neering. During this period, the engineering college had control of and included in its curriculum practically all the war-training courses. Mr. Ferguson was civilian director of educational war-training courses and from 600-1,000 men were housed, fed, and trained. Sosh served as barracks , he said, and we also used Nebraska hall, fig college, and rehabilitated the old reform building southwest of Lincoln . From June to November, 1918, 2,404 men were enrolled in the three months short-training courses, fit present. Dean Ferguson holds the rank of ma)or in the reserve officers signal corps. After Dean Stout ' s resignation in 1920, Mr. Ferguson succeeded him as dean of the Col- lege of Engineering. For 40 years. Dean Ferguson ' s hobby has been the study of family geneological records. His search for facts has led him to libraries in New York, Boston, Chicago and the Congres- sional library in Washington. Mr. Ferguson says, however, that right now my work on the side has to do with engineering education and I ' m serving on various national committees in that field . Dean Ferguson is the author of two textbooks, Elements of Electrical Transmission , and Electric Lighting . Among the organizations to which Dean Fer- guson belongs are Society for Promotion of Engineering Education, of which he is a past vice president, American Association for Advancement of Science; American Interprofes- sional Institute; Sigma Xi, national scientific honorary fraternity; Americn Association of University Professors; and Sigma Tau, national honorary engineering fraternity. He is also a member of the Student Selection and Guidance committee of the Engineering Council for Pro- fessional Development; and a former vice pres- ident of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. U of N

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COLLEGE OF DEAN O. I. FERGUSON To the Students: Tradition, that which through the years gives individuaUty and personality to colleges end insti- tutions, has many things to say about the College of Engineering. It designates our courses as difficult, and our curricula as exacting, it relates that our students are hard-working and consistently depend- able; that our instructors are able and responsive. It asserts that we have always made the best use of our opportunities and facilities, find it rates our graduates as men of parts, who are adequately pre- pared to do arduous tasks and assume tremendous responsibilities. Our present students must needs do well, if they would perpetuate this tradition which our alumni have established. They have attained national renown for bridge-building; for highway construc- tion; for electrical apparatus design and construc- tion; for manufacturing of engineering equipment; for research in magnetic alloys; for application of engineering to agriculture; for mine operations; for management of public utilities; for leadership in engineering education; for statistical engineering studies. Their many successes are undeniable proof of our assertion that, despite our meager and inadeauate equipment, and although we are in part shabbily housed, our graduates rank with the finest from other colleges, upon the campus, and in their work abroad in both our own and other lands. Our graduates constitute our chief pride. Sincerely,

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GRADUATE f JIT ■ ■ - E r ' — iff I t p c ; I r r T au DEAN F. W. UPSON To the students of the University of Nebraska: The attempt to address students in this form recalls to mind my own years as a student. What student of thirty years ago does not remember with quickened pulse such men as Chancellor Andrews, Dr. flvery (later Chancellor), Dr. Bessey, Dean Sherman, Pro- fessors Skinner, Bruner, Fossler, Sweezey, and many others? In the years after graduation it is not always the house parties, the football games, the proms, and the banquets that one recalls. One thinks also of the time when his mind was kindled to new enthusiasms for botany by the brilliant lectures of Dr. Bessey, or of the personal advice given by Dr. flvery which influenced him to continue working toward a career in chemistry. One remembers the clear-cut lectures of Dr. Skinner on light in physics, the stirring chapel addresses of E. Benjamir; Andrews, and the atmos- phere of scholarship which always pervaded the classroom of Professor P. H. Frye. To you students of today these names mean little, but I hope that in twenty or thirty years from now you will have your treasured memories too; that you will be able to recall proudly the names of men and women now on the faculty, as we now recall those scholars of thirty years ago. find so I close with the wish that your college years have been of real and lasting profit to each of you and that the group of bachelors and masters and doctors of 1936 will furnish its share of scholars and scientists and men of affairs of 1956. Sincerely yours.