DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 129 



Dr. F. S. Kedzie, President Michigan Agricultural College: 



My Dear Mr. President — I have the honor to present my ninth annual, 

 report as Dean of Engineering. 



The student enrollment for the year just closed is: 



Freshmen 131 



Sophomores 88 



Juniors 83 



Seniors 71 



Special and Summer 35 



Total 408 



The graduating class, 66 in number, is a "record breaker" for engineer- 

 ing at M. A. C, and brings the total of engineering graduates of the in- 

 stitution to 749. 



The teaching jjersonnel of the Division of Engineering is given in the 

 reports of the several departments and numbers 37 persons, exclusive of 

 student assistants. 



I was absent on leave from July 27, 1915 to January 1, 1916, and spent 

 most of the time on the Pacific coast. During my absence Prof. J. A. 

 Poison was Acting Dean of Engineering, and discharged the duties of 

 the position very acceptably. 



During the fall term Prof. V. T. AVilson resigned his position as head 

 of the Department of Drawing and Design, effective September 1, 1916. 



Mr. Wilson held his position for eight years, and was an efficient of- 

 ficer and teacher and an agreeable colleague. 



The vacancy thus created will be filled by Mr. R. K. Steward, who has 

 been appointed, efi'ective September 1, 1916. Mr. Steward comes to M. 

 A. 0. from the University of Illinois. 



The organization of the Division of Engineering will be materially 

 changed by the decision to divide the Department of Physics and Elec- 

 trical Engineering into a department of Physics, assigned to the Divi- 

 sion of Science, and a department of Electrical Engineering, assigned to 

 the Division of Engineering. 



The course of study has been changed by the addition thereto of a line 

 of options in applied chemistry, whereby those students who have pre- 

 dilections for chemical engineering may have opportunity to satisfy the 

 same in the junior and senior years to the same extent as those prefer- 

 ring civil engineering work. 



This change was made to meet what is believed to be a real demand for 

 technical training for the manufacturing industries based upon chem- 

 istry. Already considerable interest is manifested by our students in 

 this new feature of the course. 



The course, as a whole, however, is still unique in the emphasis placed 

 upon the idea that a general course in engineering, characterized by 

 thorough work in fundamentals, has a place and meets a real need. 



The outstanding event of the year for the whole College, as well as 

 for the division, was the fire, which, on March 5, 1916, destroyed the en- 

 gineering buildings and most of their contents, with the exception of 

 17 



