THREE MONTHS
OF PROGRESS
A Review of the Year and Plans
for the Future.
The first three months of the col
lege year of 1908 09 have not been
marked by unusual occurrences. The
increase in attendance over the pre
ceding year of nearly 125 students
has emphasized the crowded con
ditions under which the college work
is carried on. Large class sections,
lack of seating capacity, and long
instructional hours are chiefly in
constant evidence. Some instructors
who teach four hours per day are
compelled to go to four different
buildings to hear their classes.
Certain class rooms with inadequate
ventilation are occupied as many as
five hours a day.
Practicum hours are in some in
stances cut in two because of lack
of shop and laboratory space. The
Chemistry Annex when completed
will afford relief in one subject only.
It is to be hoped that these condi
tions if properly presented to the
coming session of the legislature will
bring some relief. The crowded
state of the dormitories has been re
lieved by the erection in the village
during the summer of more than
forty private residences, most of
them intended to provide student
lodgings.
Additional instructors have been
provided in Botany, German, His
tory, Physics, Chemistry, and Home
Economics, and the united faculties
of the various schools now number
one hundred and twenty five, which
has doubled in four years, while the
number of students has doubled in
six years. The reputation of The
Pennsylvania State College abroad is
growing as is evidenced by the fact
that students this year have matricu
lated from China, East India, Rus
sia, South America, and Porto Rico.
The New Athletic Field.
The triumphs of the'football sea
son are related in another column.
THE STATE COLLEGIAN
Captain Vorhis
Iptercollegiate games were played
on the old athletic field for the last
time. By next season new Beaver
Field (if it should be so named) will
be ready. It is expected that base
ball can be played on the new field
in the spring, but no provision has
been made for a grandstard or
bleachers. Architect's plans for a
gymnasium, baseball cage, track
house, and swimming pool for the
new field are now being prepared
and it is hoped that donations can
be secured from friends and Alumni
of the college for carrying out these
plans on a worthy scale.
It may also be noted that plans
have been prepared for a Horti
cultural building, which will consti
tute another part of the Agricultural
group. It will be located near the
new Agricultural Building.
The College Water Supply.
An independent water supply has
been provided by erecting a reser
voir in Musser's Gap which lies be
tween Shingletown Gap and Pine
Grove Mills, and laying pipe lines
thence to the college. The water
rights of Pine Grove Mills have also
been securea as a supplementary
supply. As soon as means can be
found .:I_lto I. erect a ':stand-
pipe on the highest portion of the
campus, the old reservoir which now,
mars the. appearance of the .nw
athletic field can be removed.
Preparatory Department Abolished.
Ten years ago, the first of the
two years of the Preparatory De
partment was abolished. Since that
time, the number of high schools
and preparatory schools of the state
has increased and these schools
can do the work now being done at
considerable expense by the remain
ing year of our Preparatory course.
For this reason, the Preparatory
Department will be abandoned in
June next by order of the Board of
Trustees. This action will- release
a number of recitation rooms badly
needed for the college classes..
New Departments.
Another action which will raise the
dignity and rank of the college in the
educational world is the establish
ment of an Engineering Experi
mental Station, which will serve the
engineering interests of the - state
as the Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion now benefits the agricultural
interests. The first bulletin will
concern the uses of concrete for
walks and small buildings, thus
widely extending the utility of con
crete construction. ,
Plans have also been considered
for the creation of a Department of
Ceramics in the School of Mines and
Metallurgy and one of Architecture
in the School of Engineering. If a
Summer School should be estab
lished at the college according to the
resolution adopted by the State
Teachers' Association meeting last
summer and endorsed by the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
in his annual report, it will be
,ope.
step toward an ultimate School of
Education. . .
In order to emphasize the college
as the educational center of the
state, various associations are being
invited to hold conventions here.
Recently the State Teachers' Asso-