Western Michigan University - Brown and Gold Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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GEOLOGY and GEOGRAPHY Marguerite Logan Lucia Harrison The Department of Geology and Geography, under the leadership of Dr. William Berry, pre- pares students to teach in this field. Courses are also offered for those who are going into the field of meteorology. In keeping with Western ' s wartime program a course in the military uses of maps and aero- photographs has been added to the curriculum. All the members of this department have done extensive studying and writing. During the past year Dr. Berry collaborated on a map of popula- tion distribution for the Encyclopedia Britannica Atlas which appeared in January, 1945. He has also contributed articles to periodicals published in England and Scotland as well as the United States. Miss Lucia Harrison and Miss Marguerite Logan are co-authors of the text. Elements of Geography which they use in beginning geography classes. Each of them has also collaborated in writing other geography texts. WOMEN ' S PHYSICAL EDUCATION Crystal Warner Doris Hussey The war has created changes not only in the Men ' s physical education curriculum at Western, but has also brought out the importance of exer- cise, calisthenics and physical fitness in Women ' s physical education. Under the leadership of Miss Crystal Warner, the department aims to provide a recreational program for every girl on campus. Outside of regular class periods and intramural athletics dormitory, house and sorority basketball teams have been organized and competition in them has been keen. RURAL EDUCATION William M. Robinson The Department of Rural Education at Western was the first of its kind in the United States and was established primarily to provide teachers trained to cope with the special problems that the f f Dorothy Vestal Helen Merson Isabel Crane Miss Sally McRoberts, who received her educa- tion in the field of dancing at the Hanya Holm School of Dance, taught groups this year in folk, tap, modern, and social dancing, and her classes played a large role in the evening program for which all the classes in the department combined to present to the students and public. Other features of the program were tumbling, marching, mass calisthenics and military drills. The program, the first of its kind that the department has pre- sented, was well received and holds promise of becoming a Western tradition. rural school presents. A two-year curriculum is provided for those who do not teach in grades ' above the eighth. Dr. William Robinson, the department head, and Miss Anna Evans offer courses in rural sociol- ogy, economics, and education. Special summer courses are available for teadiers already in the field to help re-orient them with more recent edu- cational concepts. The Hurd school and the Portage Rural Agri- cultural school provide directed teaching facilities for those enrolled in the department. 24

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PSYCHOLOGY The Department of Psychology, under the leadership of Dr. Theodore Henry, offers a variety of courses in general, applied and clinical psychol- ogy. In clinical psychology, taught by Mr. Homer Carter, who is director of the Psycho-Educational clinic, studies are made of pupils presenting psycho-educational problems, such as behavior dif- ficulties, deficiencies in reading, and educational and social maladjustment. The work of the course involves individual case studies, home visits, inter- viewing, conferences, and laboratory and clinical procedure. The newest addition to the department staff is Miss Dorothy McGinnis, who is the assistant in the Psycho-Educational clinic. Theodore Henry Dorothy McGinnis I Allv The formation of the School of Occupational Therapy on the campus was a relatively easy matter since it was merely moved in November, 1944, from the Kalamazoo State hospital to the college ' s temporary building. In the past both Dr. Henry and Mr. Carter have contributed widely to education and psychology periodicals. This year Mr. Carter published Intro- duction to Learning and Adjustment and con- tributed an article to the Papers of the Michigan Academy. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY Miss Marion Spear, who founded the school at the hospital in 1922, is its present director. n Spear She is a graduate of the Massachusetts School of Art, a registered therapist, and is Michigan ' s representative to the house of delegates of the American Occupational Therapy association. She has written three books and several maga- zine articles on occupational therapy. Mrs. Jane Thomas, a graduate of Western and of the Kalamazoo School of Occupational Therapy, assists Miss Spear. Mrs. Thomas is secretary of the State O. T. association and of the Kalamazoo School Alumni association. HOME ECONOMICS Reinou Maurits Reva Voile The Department of Home Economics trains students not only in the art of home-making, but also prepares them to qualify as teachers of voca- tional home economics in Michigan under the pro- visions of the state and federal acts on vocational education. In addition to the courses required for those who specialize in home economics, the department offers several courses open as electives to all students. Among the most popular of those offered this year were marriage and family rela- tionships, home furnishings, and personal and social problems. One of the more interesting requirements for majors in home economics is the course, home management practice. During this course, the girls live in family-size groups in a practice house on campus. While there, the girls put into practical use the various aspects of homemaking that they have learned in their preceding courses. 23

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ENGLISH £lda Baumann - Virginia Perkins Edith Eicher Minnie Loutzenhi: William Brown George Sprau The English department, possibly more than any other, is responsible for the metamorphasis which takes place in college students. Its members aim at bringing out the half-hidden ideas of the typical college freshman, try to give him new ideas and atti- tudes and teach him to express those ideas and attitudes in clear-cut form and good style. The de- partment accomplishes this through its freshman and advanced rhetoric courses plus its general background courses in prose and poetry and the personalities and enthusiasm of the instructors themselves. Western was fortunate this year in having two new members added to the English department. They were: Mrs. Virginia Chase Perkins, author of the book The American Home and sister of Mary Ellen Lucille Nobbs Louis Foley Herbert Slusser Lorena Gary Helen Master Louise Walker Chase, writer and a favorite of Western ' s Adult Edu- cation program, and Mr. John Thompson, who both took time off from their graduate studies at the Uni- versity of Michigan to teach six freshmen rhetoric classes here. In addition to their teaching positions on campus, most of the English instructors are writers and speakers in their specialties. Many have published books, articles, stories and poems in past years; some are engaged in literary production at the present time or are working on further degrees. Credit should be given, too, to those who claim no writing or speaking talents but who, by their daily teaching, help to develop those talents in their students. FOREIGN LANGUAGE The Foreign Language department offers courses in Latin, French, German and Spanish which are designed to provide reading, writing and speaking skills in those languages. The department functioned under a new chairman this year, when Miss Mathilde Steckleberg took over the duties of Miss Elizabeth Zimmerman who retired last year. The newest addition to the deparement staff is Mr. Herman Rothfuss who was studying for his doctorate at the University of Minnesota before he came to Western. He is a native of Germany and came to this country in 1925. The Foreign Language department can easily claim to be the most traveled department on campus. Miss Marion Tamin came to this country as an exchange student from France in 1918. Both Miss Myrtle Windsor and Dr. Francis Noble have traveled widely in France. Miss Eunice Kraft studied at the American Academy at Rome, and Miss Steckleberg has studied in several uni- versities in Germany. Mr. Harry Greenwall has traveled Mathilde Steckelberg Frances Noble Eunice Kraft Marion Tamin Herman Rothfuss in South America, the Scandinavian countries, the Orient and Hawaii. 25