Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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TO nffnvvf llAvltfii ZZMvitt ' t, |}f|.9.» UU.Ti. FOR TWENTY -FIVE YEARS DEAN OF YALE COLLEGE WE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK

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©l|p lannrr anJi 1 ot l nurri Iffenr 4 arK5 rigbt fiROFESSOR HENRY PARKS WRIGHT, who will complete twenty-five years as Dean of Yale College in June next, was born in Winchester, N. H., Novem- ber 30, 1839. He began to teach in the public schools at the age of seven- teen, and entered Phillips Academy, Andover, three years later to begin his preparation for college. When within a year of graduating at Andover, he en- listed in the 5 I st Massachusetts Infantry, and served in the Civil War till his regiment was dis- charged in 1863. He was offered the command of a company when he enlisted, but chose rather to serve his country in the ranks. When he returned from the war he finished his prep- aration for college under a private instructor, entering Yale in 1 864, and graduating in 1 868. He was valedictorian of his class, and held the highest scholarship record of any student for many college generations. He was made instructor in Chickering Institute, Cincinnati, immedi- ately after graduation, and remained there till called to a Tutorship in Yale January, 1870. He was elected Assistant Professor of Latin in 1871, and Dunham Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in 1876. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale at Commencement in 1876. He was granted a leave of absence in April, 1877, to study in Gottengin and Berlin, and resumed the active duties of his Professorship in September, 1878. In 1 884 he became Dean. In 1 895 he was honored by Union College with the degree of LL.D. He has continued to give instruction in Latin during the period of his Deanship. The exacting duties of his office have given him little time to carry on original research work. He has, however, found time to prepare various papers in classics, and in 1 90 1 edited and published the satires of Juvenal. His published annual reports as Dean the past ten years are important educational documents. His selection as Dean followed the adoption of the elective system in the summer of 1884. Previous to this the whole curriculum of studies was prescribed, except for a single elective course offered in Junior year, and one in Senior year, and the college classes were under the supervision and control of division officers and class officers. Nearly every pro- fessor and instructor knew each student, having at some time in the course given him in- struction. This condition permitted most intimate faculty supervision of conduct. The new conditions involved, with the freedom of choice in studies, a rapid increase in the number of students. In 1884 there were 580 Academical students, with a faculty of less than 40 giving instruction, and less than 50 courses all told. To-day there are 1273 students, 1 50 persons giving instruction, with more than 250 courses offered. To work out successfully the change from the prescribed curriculum to the elective, from the small college to the large