DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 81 



At the present time we are occupying three class-rooms in College 

 Hall, two in the Dairy Building, and one each in the Botanical Labora- 

 tory and Abbot Hall. Without doubt, we shall need another room for 

 the coming year. Some of these rooms are inadequately equipped in 

 seating capacity, blackboard space and desk conveniences. 



The separation of our teaching force made necessary by this distri- 

 bution of class-rooms renders the proper apportionment of work a diffi- 

 cult mattei-. In a number of instances during the year I should have 

 made distinctly different assignments, based upon the teacher's particu- 

 lar ability and economy of energy, had it not been imperative to adjust 

 these assignments to suit our extensive geographical arrangement. 1 

 am satisfied, too, that a distinct loss of efficiency arises from carrying 

 on the work of the Department in places so far distant from the main 

 office, and it is certainly impossible to give satisfactory supervision to 

 all branches of department work under my charge. 



For these and other reasons, I would urge that a sufficient number 

 of class-rooms be provided in one building for the work of the Depart- 

 ment. 



Only one room is provided as an office, study and retiring room for 

 all members of this Department. For very positive reasons, connected 

 with the management of the Department, I desire that all teachers, 

 when not occupied with teaching, report to some central meeting place. 

 If the room provided as an office were used for no other purpose, it 

 would obviously be too small to serve as such for seven persons; but 

 this room, with dimensions 12x20 feet, is the only available place for 

 stpring our instrumental equipment, for assigning, delivering and re- 

 ceiving instruments used by students in the field, and for department 

 library, student records and general storage. 



Such a combination of uses produces very unsatisfactory conditions. 

 Being so much of a laboratory, the room is not a place of privacy from 

 student intinision. Even use by the Department personnel makes it 

 impossible for the head of the Department to hold private conference 

 with student or instructor. Again, laboratory use by the students brings 

 its attendant dirt and disorder, while the varied storage requirements 

 render anything like neatness or arrangement, or even cleanliness, next 

 to an impossibility. I most strongly urge that office space be provided 

 sufficient to i)lace a desk for each member of the Department, in which 

 there shall be a i)rivate corner for the head of the Department. The 

 lack of this jjrovisron has become annoying to the point of exas[>eration, 

 and I feel that attention to this matter is absolutely necessary to the 

 proper conduct of next year's work. 



While the need of a separate room for an instrument repository has 

 been apparent for many years, the desired improvement has not yet 

 materialized. Promise of ample and convenient quarters in a new build- 

 ing to be erected some time in the future has led to unusual effort to 

 preserve our equipment, even when housed under conditions which con- 

 stitute a constant menace. Meanwhile, conditions grow worse; larger 

 classes and more equipment both serve to intensify the reasons for urg- 

 ing the matter of proper and adequate storage and laboratory facilities. 



With the establishment of a partial course in civil engineering in the 

 fall of 1901, this Depai-tment assumed a half-obligation that for the 

 first two years during which these civil engineering options were 

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