To balance from Treasurer Nicols' report. $1,851 07 Sept. 20, By cash for Mackinaw blankets, voucher' $1,600 00 11.00 200 00 200 00 200 00 200 00 Hon. J. S. Pillsbury, President of the Board of Regents: SIR: -I have the honor herewith to transmit the seventh annual report of the condition and progress of the University. I have the honor to be, sir, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, WILLIAM W. FOLWELL, President. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. To the Honorable, the Board of Regents: GENTLEMEN:-The institution opened under your auspices as a preparatory school in October, 1867, celebrated its attainment to college rank by its first commencement, held on the 19th day of June, 1873. The degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon the following persons: Warren Clarke Eustis, of Hennepin County; A statement of the aims and organization of the University will furnish a standard by which to estimate its "condition and progress." The University, by virtue of the organic law, embraces theoretically the following colleges or departments, to wit: A department of Elementary Instruction; A College of Science, Literature and the Arts; A College of Agriculture; A College of the Mechanic Arts; A College of Law; A College of Medicine. The governing board is further empowered to establish additional departments. Of the above Colleges or Departments the first four have been organized. It is a general principle that each College is a distinct member of the University federation, having its own faculty, buildings and equipment. The Agricultural College, for instance, exists as an independent department and not as a mere alternative course of studies in a general scientific and literary college. The Department of Elementary Instruction, otherwise known as the COLLEGIATE DEPARTMENT," however, being temporary in its character, and so long as retained, the common feeder of the higher departments, is placed under the care of the General Faculty, composed of all the professors at large. As regards the other departments now in operation, the general principle stated cannot be fully carried out. The work of all departments is as yet crowded into one uncomfortable and inconvenient building; the professors are, in some instances, obliged to do duty in two or more departments, and the whole instruction is given upon a consolidated programme. This state of things is by no means peculiar to our own State and can be endured for any reasonable time. Most new colleges are forced into the same policy. The chief peculiarity of the organization is the including the work of the Freshman and Sophomore years in the department of Elementary Instruction, with the expectation of ultimately dropping it off to the secondary schools. This feature has received the endorsement of a large number of the best educational thinkers and workers in the country. The process of dropping of this preparatory or secondary work is to be gradual and to be so managed that the University may at all times begin wherever the High Schools leave off. In this way the University will maintain a close and vital articulation with the system of public instruction. It was on account of this enforced intermingling of functions that the Board of Regents lately adopted, instead of a classified scheme, a schedule of professorships at large. This schedule, here inserted, however far it may be from ideal completeness, is adapted to the present circumstances and prospects. A SCHEME OF DEPARTMENTS OF INSTRUCTION AT LARGE FOR THE VARIOUS "COLLEGES OR DEPARTMENTS" OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. I. Academic or General. 1. Mathematics. 2. Astronomy. 3. Chemistry. 4. Physics. 5. Geology. 6. Botany. 7. Zoology. 8. Physical Geography. Associated Subjects. Mineralogy. 22. Theory and Practice of Agriculture. Horticulture and Arboriculture. It being manifestly impracticable to fill all the professorships given in the above list, the following dispositions have been made: Astronomy has been assigned to the Professor of Mathematics; Botany, Zoology and Physical Geography to the Professor of Geology. French is taught by the Professor of Military Science. The Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy gives the instruction in Comparative Philology. The department of History has been distributed to various officers, chiefly to the Professor of English Language and Literature. The Professor of Civil Engineering has control also of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Drawing. The department of Public Health is under the direction of the Secretary of the State Board of Health. Social Science, including Political Economy, has been committed to the President. Elocution is associated with the department of English. For the following departments and subjects no stated provision can be made: Anglo-Saxon, North European Languages except the Scandinavian, South European Languages except Italian, Philosophy of History, Vocal Culture, Music and Gymnastics, Fine Arts and Esthetics, Veterinary Science and Stock Breeding, Education, Business. The Executive Committee are authorized to procure such occasional lectures on these subjects as may be feasible. |