68 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ELECTRICAL 



ENGINEERING. 



President J. L. Snyder: 



Dear Sir: — The past year, 1910-1911, has been vei*>' nmch like the 

 preceding one. We had very much the same instructional force and ac- 

 complished about the same amount of work. 



During this school year the faculty have changed the required work 

 so that twenty credits per term will be required after this year instead 

 of twenty-five as heretofore. This of course necessitated rearranging the 

 work and, together with the changes in the home economics course, 

 some difficulty was experienced in making it possible for every student xo 

 get the amount of physics that his course called for. For that reason in 

 the spring term we had to forego laboratoiy work in the home economics 

 and agricultural courses. 



It is difficult, with the changes that are being made, to keep the 

 amount of work done in the three terms uniform, so that the staff may 

 be equally busy each term. For example, our fall term has for several 

 years been the light term. The winter term has been heavier, and the 

 spring term so heavy that the staff were hardly able to carry all the 

 work. I have tried in the reorganization of the courses this year to 

 even it up but I think that our sjjring term will still be the heaviest 

 term of the year. 



Not many additions to our laboratory equipment have been made 

 during the year, but a few very much needed ones have been provided. 



For three years now the department has held an ''electrical show" near 

 the latter part of the winter term and it seems to be justified from 

 the interest shown and the questions asked. Electricity is entering every 

 phase of life, — the home, the factory and the farm, to such an extent 

 that it is essential that every one should have an intelligent knowl- 

 edge of its uses. The electrical show seems to accomplish this purpose. 

 We also take occasion, at the time of the Round-Up Institute occur- 

 ring about the same time, to have the various uses of electricity on ex- 

 hibition for the benefit of those attending. All this is accomplished with 

 a very slight expense to the department and I hope in another year to 

 be able to accomplish more, although our space that can be assigned 

 to such exhibition work is becoming less every year. 



Mr. H. E. Marsh, who was with the department during 1909 and 

 1910, has been with the civil engineering department this year. 



Mr. Oren L. Snow, a graduate of the class of 1910, has been instructor 

 in the preparatory work in physics. Mr. Snow has proven a very use- 

 ful and intelligent instructor. He evidently was cut out to be a teacher, 



Mr. Ernest Roller, who has been with us two years, resigned in order 

 to give his attention to commercial matters. His connection with the 

 department has been very pleasant indeed. Those who have become ac- 

 quainted with ]\Ir. Roller and his family have had a concrete example 

 of how a family can come and enter into the life of a community and 

 be very helpful and useful even though they do stay but two years. 



