Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Bugle Yearbook (Blacksburg, VA)

Page 19 text:

THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION f gi W W if f r . ' ff?

Page 18 text:

x DOCTOR JULIAN ASIIBY BURRUSS Pwfsiclefnt of Vi1'givz.ia Polyteclmic Institute julian Ashby Burruss was born in Richmond in 1876. After working a few years with a railroad company, he came to V. P. I. and was graduated with honors in civil engineering in 1898, having been president of the Y. M. C. A., the Richmond Club and the Maury Literary Society, editor of the BUGLE and the Grey facket, and captain of Bat- tery E. He took graduate work in several different universities, and had the Ph.D. conferred upon him by the University of Chicago, magna cum laude. Early in Dr. Burruss' career he was commandant of cadets and instructor in mathematics and science in a school in Georgia. He held a similar position in Arkansas. Then 'he returned to Rich- mond as principal of an elementary school, later becoming director of Manual Arts for the Rich- mond schools and introducing industrial educa- tion into that city. In 1908, upon the founding of what is now Harrisonburg State Teachers College, Dr. Burruss was chosen to be its Hrst president. He started the building of H. S. T. C. to its present position of the largest woman's college in Virginia. Leaving Harrisonburg, Dr. Burruss in 1919 be- came the first alumnus-president of V. P. I. In spite of many attractive offers from other institu- tions, he has remained with his alma mater 16 years of Dr. Burruss' coming the enrollment had to transfer his services elsewhere. Within three years of Dr. Burrus' coming the enrollment had tripled, andl it has continued to rise. During his incumbency the value of the physical plant has increased many times over. Virginia Tech has been recognized as one of the leading technical colleges in the United States, this accomplishment being largely due to the consistent work of its president.

Page 20 text:

f a, veins aunts Fna iqasf an af THE DEPARTMENT O PROFESSOR T. W. KNOTE, Head of line Depuflnzerzt of Burinefr Adminirimtian l AMONG the achievements of the last decade at V. P. I. the rapid growth of the Department of Business Administration is not the least. Witli only seven graduates in 1927, the department has more students than any other single department in the school, and is even ahead of the total enrollment of the School of Agriculture and remaining coursesof the School of Applied Science-there being about 250 in the four undergraduate classes. The purpose of the department is to give scientific train- ing in the principles which would enable a man-or a woman, for a number of women also study the course-to profitably run an enterprise of his own or to fit serviceably into a large corporate endeavour. The attempt is to build executives, not clerical helpers. To this end a wide variety of subjects are taught: Money and banking, advertising, accounting, credit, mar- keting and salesmanship, statistics, insurance, finance, personnel administration and labor problems. Additionally the student receives a backbone in general economic theory, and goes into the matter of government in some detail as a subject which the business man will always have to understand. The freshmen beginning the curriculum take a number of general subjects in the business field, then each year the classes become more specialized and go into the matter in greater detail, so that after four years the embryo business man has a very good idea of the way business is run. If he desires, he can continue to specialize in a fifth year, which a number of students have done during the depression years. A Closely associated with the Department of Business Administration is the. Pre-Law course. In fact, the two year Pre-Law course is practically identical with the first two years of busi- ness, with slight variations to better prepare the aspiring lawyer for an accredited law school. if Q if i 'if' 'ic' 'ir if i' 'lr it