REPORT OF THE DEAN. In accordance with the recently revised rules of the Faculty, the Dean is to be the general consulting officer for all students, and he is to co-operate with the President in all matters relating to discipline and the general welfare of the student body; he is to be chairman of the Committee of Advisers, and he is to have a general oversight of the firstyear instruction. A year and a half of experience indicates plainly the desirability of having a general consulting officer. The chief work of the office has been in connection with students who have voluntarily sought advice in connection with Institute work. The number of students sent to the Dean by Faculty vote or by the Registrar averages about 30 a month; the number who come voluntarily for consultation is much larger. The number of advisers for new students this year is 60; the average number of students assigned to any one adviser is 7. The Committee of Advisers met new students in the library of the Rogers Building, September 28 and 29, 1903. This was done in order to facilitate the work of registration and to enable graduate students to consult with the heads of departments. There was a more definite organization this year, and the work of registration was completed more expeditiously than usual. The Dean and the Committee of Advisers gave an informal reception on Friday, October 23, to new graduate students. In this list were also included students, not graduates, who had entered the Institute from other colleges. The reception was held at the Technology Club, and there were over 150 persons in attendance. A card catalogue of all the students at the Institute is kept in the Dean's office. It is intended that these cards should show particularly a student's interest in the various social, literary, and professional societies, his connection with class organizations, and his record in athletics. All reports of illness are entered on these cards, which also serve as an index to correspondence and personal memoranda. A circular letter is sent, soon after the beginning of the term, to preparatory schools, inquiring about students who have been admitted. These replies and the card catalogue are found useful in considering the marks of first-year students at the intermediate examinations of the first term. A room registry of about 220 rooms suitable for students has been kept in the office, and has been freely used by the new students. Last spring an attempt was made to organize something of an employment bureau for undergraduates, and about 50 students obtained positions for the summer through this office. Reports with reference to the Department of Drawing, to the Gymnasium, and to the Institute Exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition, are appended. I. DRAWING. Professor Faunce's connection with the Department of Drawing terminated in May, 1903, and the department was placed under the general direction of the Dean. Mr. C. L. Adams was promoted to the grade of Assistant Professor, and was asked to take direct charge of the instruction. During the summer a new programme of instruction was arranged by the Dean and Professor Adams. Two new instructors, Mr. E. S. Foljambe and Mr. J. R. Putnam, were engaged. Both of these men are graduates of the Institute in the class of 1901, and have had practical experience as draftsmen. Professor Adams was prepared at the beginning of the term to inaugurate a new system of instruction, with new sets of printed notes. The elementary principles of Descriptive Geometry are studied at the beginning of the course. Instruction in the use of drawing instruments and practice in mechanical drawing is taken up incidentally in connection. with the solving of problems. The class is divided into three sections, assigned to two-hour periods of work twice a week. |