University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Our New President |N the 25th of April the Board of Regents surprised the university community and the citizens of the state at large, by selecting as president of the University of Texas effective July 1st, Dr. Robert Ernest Vinson, president of the Austin Theological Seminary, to succeed William James Battle. Dr. Vinson was notified of his election by a committee ol the Board, consisting of David Har- rell. Geo. W. Littlefield. and Dr. Battle, and announced his acceptance. While the selection of Dr Vinson came as an almost t otal surprise, the action of the Board was heralded with universal approval by the friends and well wishers of the university through- out the state. Dr. Vinson was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina. November 4. 1876: son of John and Mary Eliz- abeth Bricc Vinson He received the degree of bachelor of arts from Austin College. Sherman, Texas, in 1896 and the degree of bachelor of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Vir- ginia in 1899: studied at the Univer- sity of Chicago in 1892: received the degree of doctor of divinity from Austin College in 1905: received the degree of doctor of laws from Southwestern Presbyterian University in 1910 On January 3. 1901. he married Miss Katherine Elizabeth Kerr of Sherman, of which marriage- there are three children For the last fourteen years Dr. Vinson has been a teacher in the ustin Theological Seminary, commencing in 1902 as professor of Hebrew and New I estament Greek, and in l L X)o was transferred at his own request by the board of trustees to the Allcn- Johnson Chair of English Bible and Practical Theology. In 1908 Dr inson was unanimously elected president of the seminary, in which position he has continued until this date. In 1909 he was appointed by the Synod of Texas as chair- man of the executive committee of schools and colleges to administer the financial attain ol all ol the educational work of the Presbyterian Church in Texas, which position he still holds, Dr. Vinson is the fourth native son of South Carolina to be called to the presidency ol the University of Texas. The other South Carolinians who have been at the head ol the school arc George fayloe Winston. David F. Houston, now Secretary ol Agriculture in Presi- dent ilson ' s cabinet, and V. J. Battle, who has been sen ing as president since the resignation Mezes. Dr. Vinson comes to the university with the best wishes and most hearty co-operation .,1 both the student body and alumni of the school, I lis opportunitj is immense, and his i. confident in the belief that he will adopt a broad-gauged and liberal policy with reference to the administration of the affairs of I educational institution, and predict an era ol prosperity and progress for man) years to come

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To ttlhe Sons audi Danngliteirs offline Uniiversiltys |E are nearing the close of another University year. For many of you the period of preparation for your life work will end within a few weeks. Most of you have earned a period of recreation before taking up a future task. All of you will, 1 trust, go back at least for a time to home and people, for their pleasure and for yours. Wherever you go. whether homeward or elsewhere, you will stand forth as representatives of the University. By your words, by your actions, the worth of the University is going to be judged, its value to the state estimated. Had you thought of that 1 The University was created to give to the most capable youth of the state a training that should fit them to become leaders in their communities — leaders in thought, leaders in action, and examples in right living. Now. people expect return for money expended, and exactly insofar as you. the sons and daughters of the University, seem to the people of the state worthy of confidence will they give the University means to produce more men and women like you. Alma Mater loves you all; she hopes good things for every one; she will follow you with unchanging interest to the ends of the earth: she holds open her doors with a welcome that never cools: but, as you leave her for a day or forever, she begs you to remember that her honor is in your keeping. If she has but taught you the secret of the joy of life ' If you have but caught the truth that the one abiding satisfaction is the memory of help given, of duty done, of self conquered! Wealth, fame, position, pleasure — these are alluring prospects, but deep down in the bottom of the heart there is a feeling that there is something better than these. Ever since Jesus gave the world his method of inwardness and his secret of self-sacrifice, those have seen that something better who had eyes to see. To us of today the fearful war now waging brings home the same truth on a vaster scale. As science has an- nihilated time and distance, national relations have grown closer. National isolation is now no longer possible. National greatness, even national exist- ence, will now depend on the subordination of the interests of the individual to those of the community. The state must work for the common good, but the state must be supreme. In man ' s relation to the state, as in his relation to his neighbor, the eternal truth manifests itself that he who loses his life shall find it. It is to the recognition of this truth that Alma Mater calls you. It : s not an easy lesson; nay. it is the hardest lesson that man has ever had to lea.-n But it is also the noblest lesson that the mind has ever devised; it is the only lesson that shall bring the peace at last. — W J Battle