University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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22 TYEE 1904 Of his parents, who were Ghio people, his father was of Scotch-Irish extraction, while on his mother's side the family had been American for generations. I-Ie received his elementary and high school train- ing in his home town. After the completion of his high school course he taught in the public schools for three years. The first year he taught at New Britain, a place noted as being one of the hardest in the State, and from which the previous teacher had been driven. The next two years he was principal of the public schools of joliet, Indiana. In 1888 he was graduated from De Pauw University with the degree of A. B. Early in his college course he paid special attention to the Latin language, and as a freshman won the freshman Latin prize in reading and writing Latin. The following year he won the Cora Parr gold medal, in the sophomore contest in essay writing. As a junior he took second class honors in Latin, and as a senior, first honors. As a sophomore he was appointed Latin tutor for the junior yea-r, which tutorship he held for both junior and senior years. jj Un his graduation he was elected to the superintendency of city schools at Spencer, Indiana. This position he declined, to accept the chair of Greek and Latin in Lewis College, Missouri, where he remained for three yearsg he was vice president of the institution, and during the third year filled the office of president. In ISQI he entered upon his post-graduate work at johns I-Iop- kins University and for four years devoted himself to the study of Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. In these subjects he studied under three of the greatest classical scholars and teachers ever assembled in this country-Minton VVarren, Basil L. Gildersleeve a-nd Maurice Bloomfield. I-Ie was appointed Latin scholar for the' college year 1893-4, he was Latin fellow for 1894-5, and in 1895 he took his doctorate of Philosophy, jj Cn completing the course at johns Hopkins he was called to the Rutan professorship of Latin language and literature in Olivet College, Michigan. This position he hlled for Five years. Although his success in the classics was pronounced, his tastes have ever

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1904 TYEE 21 OUR PRESIDENT fs ff 9 1. I gh. ,-HBE: 0 'Y mu 5' P fi' , QU .nigh 'N' ' ' gif , If ,' iff- if ' .I Ek, f 1 my 'v is ,' .' yi ' , ATN l: '1- 1 .' X fix gi. if-f 11 . Ly: H-1' Lrl i ,it Q qi , I' - fi i , L I .R K. 1.1 ' v g ikx vi :N - :V 3 fi ii.-i. -'gs ,.,..,.,,., .fa ,J E 1 I L the University had N the two years that preceded his election as president of the University of VVashington, Dr. Thomas Franklin Kane, professor of Latin, won the confidence and respect of the Uni- versity to such ai degree that when a change was made in its executive, as if by universal consent all eyes turned to him to guide the aHairs of this great and rapidly growing insti- tution through probably one of the most crit- ical periods in her history. if In the brief months that have passed since he first assumed the complex and difficult duties of that great office he has yet more en- deared himself to the hearts of the student body and won the esteem of the educational world of the Northwest. jlThe situation which confronted Dr. Kane was one of extreme difficulty. In four years grown from a small pioneer college to a uni- versity in fact as well as in name. From less than two hundred, her attendance has increased to over six hundred. New buildings had been added and the faculty greatly strengthened. Here was a university of scarcely a day set up to compete with institutions having two centuries of tradition behind them. New policies must be outlined, traditions must be laid, a- thousand things which the age of other institutions supplied must here be instituted. if With what firmness and courage he faced the duties of his new oflice, the lines of his countenance suggest. fl Thomas Franklin Kane was born in 1863 at Vifestield, Indiana.

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1904 TYEE 23 turned to executive work. So when the principal of the preparatory school of Olivet College was appointed United States Minister to Siam, he was asked to do executive work, and for the remaining two and a half years of his stay in Olivet College he administered the ahiairs of his office, as well as carrying on his class work. just before leaving Olivet he was chosen as an editor by the University Publishing Company of New York and was assigned to edit De Senectute and Amicitia of Cicero. This work had progressed far enough to use the notes with the freshman class in Cicero, when he was called upon to act as president of our University. H In 1900 he was called to the chair of Latin in the University, which position he was filling, when once more in his career he was called from the class-room to assume the duties of an executive. H Such, in brief, has been the training which the new president of the University brings to meet the problems that confront him. Starting at the bottom of our educational system, we see him rising round by round until he stands at the hea-d of one of the great Universities, of which our American Commonwealths are so justly proud. Firm yet tactful, he possesses that one compelling quality from which all others spring-genuineness. He is every inch a man, true and resolute, in whose hands We are glad to place the honor and dignity of our Alma Mater and feel they are secure.