Wheaton College - Nike Yearbook (Norton, MA)

Page 22 text:

CHEMISTRY In the chemistry classes at Wheaton knowledge of both theoretical and practi- cal value is gained. Advanced students realize that there is close correlation in all of the classes. All work knits itself, year by year, into an intricate pattern, complete at the end of a major in chemistry. The courses given senior year obliterate the artificial bound- aries necessarily created by year courses. Enough laboratory work is given so that students learn to work alone, to think for themselves, figuring out their own diffi- culties when a snag is met. On the lighter side of laboratory are the Thursday afternoon chemistry teas. For tired students working in the lab, that afternoon tea is served in beakers and stirred with glass rods. True to their studies, citric acid is used by the girls instead of the usual lemon. Head of the department is Dr. Mildred Evans. Her assistants are Dr. Maud Marsh- all and Dr. Dorothy Thompson. ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY Precision and efficiency are the backbone of economics and sociology. ‘‘Organiza- tion’’ is Dr. Cressey’s byword—it’s a good word, an open sesame to the complex world of community, association, institution. The New York Times is the standby of ‘‘ec’’ students—Wall Street is more than a thor- oughfare to them. The faculty are as diverse in background and interest as Samoa and Middletown. Mrs. Hidy spent her girlhood in South Africa; Miss Nottingham in Yorkshire; Dr. Jennings and Dr. Cressey were brought up in America. Dr. Jennings’ main interest just now is the personal loan department. Dr. Cressey’s field is Race Relations; Miss Nottingham is studying the history of Methodism, and Mrs. Hidy is working on a history of George Peabody, banker. Economics and Sociology cover a hetero- geneous territory! HENRIETTA COOPER JENNINGS, Ph.D. Professor of Economics and Sociolog y ENGLISH A Jekyll-Hyde problem, or at least the problem of a double purpose, confronts the English department: to present a scholarly knowledge of English literature to the students majoring in the field and to im- part a general understanding of the subject to students whose primary interest lies elsewhere. Hence, the survey course in English literature from Beowulf to the present is duplicated in detail for the majors in the Junior and Senior tutorial courses. Perhaps, though, the department is more of a Cerberus than Jekyll-Hyde. Not only literature has its attention, but drama and composition. Through its speech work and courses in technique of the drama and dramatic theory and prac- tice the department has gained a large following. Of great interest are the pro- jects worked out in the latter course, the model sets and theatres and the Little Theatre plays. Freshmen are given an introduction to the writing of English through the ele- mentary composition course, and for those wishing to continue with creative work, advanced composition, journalism, versi- fication and similar courses are offered. In its wide range of work covered, the English department necessarily includes a large staff, both general and specialized. Under the professorship of Mr. Ralph P. [ 18 ]

Page 21 text:

Departments of Instruction. . . ART Several years ago in the annals of time, an Egyptian Pharaoh built a monument in the form of a pyramid. A short time after- wards a group of idealists designed a temple on the Acropolis of Athens. Later, when historians said the world was dark, some visionaries fashioned a Gothic cathe- dral out of space and stone and glass. To- day men build a skyscraper eighty stories high from rods of steel. Such is the his- tory of art, and such is the story of man. The Art Department opens a new vista to the student who is seeking a meaning to supplement her first visual or tactile impression of ‘‘history as it was lived”’ and reflected. Under Dr. Seaver, Dr. Neil- son, Dr. Van Ingen, Miss Randall, and Miss Lorentzen, the Department moulds future patrons in the appreciation of past and present art; and stimulates a general art-consciousness by means of its frequent exhibits in the Library Gallery. Like time and hope and history, art is a great transcendentalist and unifier of men. The builders of Radio City are even now trying to solve the problems which beset those who several years ago fash- ioned Amiens. Art is a recurrent string that ties them all together. ESTHER ISABEL SEAVER, Ph.D. Professor of Art MABEL AGNES RICE, Ph.D. Professor of Botany [17] BOTANY As a survey course to start an acquaint- ance between the student and plants, and to give an idea of the different lines of work open in the field of Botany, General Botany, taught by both Dr. Rice, head of the department, and Dr. Faull, draws a great number from each freshman class. Upperclassmen may continue their work in advanced courses. Thus in Plant Physio- logy, for instance, students are doing new and interesting work in inoculating stems with auxin. Plant Technique is notable for its micro- and plant-photography. In Plant-Culture terraria built by the class for six successive years have taken prizes in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s annual spring flower show. The Botany department attempts to make the plant world interesting to the college at large. The greenhouse, under the care of Miss Hequembourg, the peren- nial bed near Emerson, and the Arboretum are all valuable adjuncts to the Botany Department. The Arboretum, which con- sists of trails winding through the college woods where many different varieties of plants and trees, carefully labelled, at- tract the wanderer, is one of the pleasantest of Wheaton’s recent developments. MILDRED WILLIAMS EVANS, Ph.D Professor of Chemistry

Page 23 text:

RALPH PHILIP BOAS, A.M. Professor of English Boas are Miss Shepard, Mrs. Boas, Mrs. Ballou, Miss Burton, Mrs. Mackenzie, Mr. de Mille, Dr. Sharp, Miss Howard, Miss Tweedle, and Miss Winslow. GERMAN Sprechen Sie Deutsch? What do you know of Germany beside the name Hitler and Grimm’s fairy tales? The traditions of Germanic culture make up a civilizational study of great interest, and it is this back- ground for language which Dr. Korsch, Dr. Kramer and Mr. Lilge consider most important. To this end, there is a German exchange student, a German Club, a Ger- man table in the dining room, and a clip- ping file for articles on Germany. Language is, after all, only the open sesame to na- tionality and not an end in itself. HISTORY A long, long time ago there was an his- torian. He kept getting posterity and his ancestors mixed up, and so he wrote the first history book. But he omitted the present, and so more and more history books had to be written. Today we keep up to date with the daily paper—treally an historical document. The History De- partment sweeps all the ages together into a chronological picture, but it also empha- sizes the present and the political science of the present. Dr. Hubbard is a member of the Special PRISCILLA MANTON KRAMER, Ph.D. Instructor in German CLIFFORD CHESLEY HUBBARD, Ph.D. Professor of History and Political Science Commission on Educational Matters for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and an authority on the history of Rhode Is- land. Last summer he studied the Wagner Housing Bill. Dr. Gulley is an authority on Joseph Chamberlain and has written a book, English Social Politics, about him. Dr. Knapton and Dr. Hidy are both work- ing on books at present, and Dr. Hidy is conducting adult classes on Current Events in Attleboro. The historian’s work is never done. If there is a destiny that shapes our ends, it is no doubt the scratch of his pen recording the events of tomorrow. LATIN AND GREEK The classical department of Wheaton includes Greek and Latin, with courses in language, literature, and archeology. One may translate Horace, read Plato, inter- pret Sappho, or learn the meaning in a fragment of Minoan pottery, under the guidance of Dr. Work, Dr. Lynn, and Dr. Elizabeth Evans. In the classical study of the library you will find shelves of ‘‘red and green’’ books, and odd, delightful bits of wisdom and erudition. Another corner of campus devoted to the classics is Mary Lyon 9, which has its own small museum,—a no- table coin collection and other interesting pieces. Wheaton students themselves earned the coin collection in return for work done fee