University of Oregon - Oregana Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

Page 28 text:

I ne Cyollege ot Literatui t, Sc lence, a nd the Art, With the addition of sociology to the college in the spring of 1929, the number of departments was increased to an even twenty. These twenty disciplines, with the four groups in the lower division, now enroll almost exactly one-half of the major students on the Eugene campus. This does not, nn James h. Gilbert however, indicate the full extent of the service rendered by the college, under the direction of Dr. James H. Gilbert. Reckoned in student hours the liberal arts college carries approximately two-thirds of the instruction load on the University campus. The professional man who hopes to succeed realizes soon that education is a continuous process and the man or woman best equipped with a trained mind and an intensive study of auxiliary sciences finds his professional status and his influence in his community more easily maintained. The curricula of professional schools on the Oregon campus have been constructed with a view to a large admixture of cultural subjects. During the first two years in particular students electing majors in law, journalism, business, education, etc., are encouraged to acquaint themselves with the great masterpieces of literature and to train their own powers of expression in written and spoken word. In the social sciences the student finds an explanation of organized society and the evolution and significance of present day institutions. Work in the physical sciences trains in exact reasoning and familiarizes the student with the environment in which man must achieve his destiny. The biological sciences introduce the student to the realm of organic life and the physi- ological foundations of the mental processes. Specialized work in these fields leading to professional opportunities is provided by the upper division curricula of these twenty departments. An attempt is made from the time of entrance to adapt the work to the capacities and needs of students. At the end of the first two years superior students are singled out for distinction and honor privi- leges in the upper division work.

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I lit 1930 Jummcp O The summer session of the University of Oregon will be almost a floating one this year, for, under the supervision of Alfred Powers, cruises to both Hawaii and Alaska have been planned. In addition to the trips, classes will be held both on the Eugene cam- pus and at Portland, in which many promi- nent educators from all parts of the United States will teach. The southwestern trip to Hawaii will be the first attempted by the University to the Islands. It will be much longer than the Alaskan cruise, and the boat will sail in June. Classes will be taught both on board the boat and at the University of Hawaii, where that institution ' s faculty will cooper- ate. The courses will include history, inter- national relations, journalism, anthropology, geology, education, and literature. While at- tending the classes sponsored by the Hawai- ian school, the students will be housed at Punahou academy. Karl W. Onthank, ex- ecutive secretary of the University, will be in charge. The cruise north to Alaska proved such a success last year that the administration has decided to repeat it. Students planning ess i on on making the journey will attend the first two weeks of post-session at Eugene, and on the morning of August 13 leave for Seattle from where they will sail the following day, returning about August 26. Special courses in landscape sketching, botany, geography, and the art of the Alaskan Indians will be given in addition to the regular subjects. W. G. Beattie, assistant director of the ex- tension division, will be in charge of the Alaskan trip. The University ' s summer sessions have proved invaluable to school teachers through- out the state as a means by which they may learn the newest methods in education for both the elementary and high school. Each department of the University of Oregon co- operates in the summer work, some of the regular professors instructing classes in Eugene and some lecturing in Portland. To supplement the teaching staff, well-known professors from the larger educational in- stitutions of the United States come to offer courses along the line of work they are famous for. Many regular students of this school take advantage of these sessions to make up woi-k they have missed during the winter months.

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Tke vj7Paduate Ocnool DE rEORGE REBEC The graduate school believes that it is sincerely able to report essential good progress. It can point, not only to a constantly better prepared student body, but to one increas- ing from other and distant parts of the country and abroad. At the moment there are nineteen active candidates work- ing towards their degree of doctor of philosophy. The immediately most engrossing business before the graduate school is that of working out a new constitution and formal organization. The proposal has just received the sanction of the faculty, and it is purposed henceforth the school, as a whole, will be divided into some four groups -- -nat ural science; social science; language, literature and fine arts; and medicine. Medicine, it might be ex- plained, is erected into a separate group at least in part, because of the practical problems arising from its situation off the campus. The groups are established in the interest of breaking down, even in graduate work, the too narrow specialization of individual depart- ments, to establish a habit and opportunity of conference and cooperative thinking and work among the departments whose interests lie fairly close together. The mention of the medical school probably calls for the explanatory report that there is no proposal of having the graduate school swallow up the professional schools, even where the work of the latter is of a graduate status. The graduate school will continue to busy itself with work and degrees of the paramountry theoretical, in the distinction from a strictly professional nature. Dean George Rebec is head of the school, and under his direction the graduate school has drawn men and women for advanced work from all over the Northwest. Special research work is done by these students, and much valuable material is discovered. Each year an increased number of individuals come to the Uni- versity of Oregon to take up graduate work, the largest number in the history of the institution being enrolled du- ring the school year 1929-1930. A still greater number is ex- pected by Dean Rebec next year. The increased emphasis upon higher scholastic degrees is one of the leading factors in the enlarged enrollment, Dean Rebec believes. ( Ik nr Mi SCHOO