Son's AU Legacy Cover Note

Magazine of The American University Summerl989 - son's AU Legacy Cover Note AMaga:t:inaMERIOiN ol tb.e A.lneri= I]DiTe u lty SUmmer 1989 ( Hurst Anderson reviews blueprints for the building that would house AU's School of International Service, which opened in 1958. Anderson oversaw the addition of twenty buildings and four schools during his tenure as AU's presi dent. See story page 3. Vol. 40 No.3 1tlble of Contents America" is the official alumni magazine of The American University. It is written and designed by the University Publications and Printing Office, Office of University Relations. Personal views on subjects of public interest expressed in the magazine do nor necessarily reflect official policies of the university. Suggestions and comments concerning America" should be sent to American Magazine, University Publications and Printing Office, The American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016 Anita F. Gottlieb, Assistant Vice President for niversity Relations Manha N. Robinson, Director, University Publications and Printing Managing Editor: Anne Kelleher Editorial Staff: jacalyn Barrow, Mary jo Binker, june Dollar, Colleen Mahoney, Tracy Samuel, Karen Way Photographer: Hilary Schwab Designer: Tawna Grasty America" is published quarterly by The American Anderson at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Kay Spiritual Life Center, June 1963. University. With a circulation of about 55,000, America" is sent to alumni and other constituents of the university community. Copyright 1989, The American University, an equal opportunity/ Features affirmative action university. The Legacy of Hurst Robins Anderson . 3 As president from 1952 to 1968, Anderson led the university through a dramatic period of physical and educational changes. The Roots of Learning, An AU Course Sampler .. .. .......... ... 7 A preview of AU's new general education curriculum. Recipe for Success ......... ... ... .. .. ... .... .. ... .. ..... l 0 Marketing students get a taste of the real world helping to launch a local entrepreneur. Departments . President's Message . 2 campus News . ... .......... .. ........ .. .... .. .... .. 12 Centennial News . .... .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .... .... ... 15 Faculty ....... ............. · .. · · ... · .. .. .. .. ... .. 18 Students .. .. ......... .. ..... ...... .. ........ ... ... .. l 9 Class Notes & Alumni News . .... .... ..... .... ...... .. .. 21 Sports .... .. ............... · . · · ... · · · . .. .. ..... ...... ..... 30 UP90- 001 SUMMER 1989 President's Message n his sixteen years as president of this insti~u I tion, Hurst Robins Anderson, who died thts spring, brought The American University from a marginal post-Depression school to a vastly enlarged, stabilized, and strengthened in stitution of higher education. This issue of American recalls his presence among us and makes clear the legacy that has allowed us to move in ever-greater strides toward excellence in the academic community. Also in this issue is a review of the university's new general education program, which will be offered to incoming freshmen for the first time this fall. The new curriculum affirms the philosophy that a university is a place for the exploration of ideas - not so much for finding answers as for finding questions. If all the questions had answers, life would be dull, information not worth learning, a university irrelevant. It is precisely because we know much but also have much to learn that university life is worthwhile. The late twentieth century offers a volatile, challenging global environ ment that will leave us behind if we are ill-equipped for participation. By teaching students to question, by integrating issues of gender, race, class, culture, and ethics into every course, by embracing both Western and non Western traditions as curriculum materials, The American University will prepare its students to be citizens of the world in the twenty-first century. tf<A--iJ ~~ Richard Berendzen 2 AMERICAN The Legacy of Hurst Robins Anderson The death this spring of Hurst Robins Anderson, president of The American University from 1952 to hen the new pres 1968, brings to mind the pervasive to teach, but only long enough to save ident first walked money for law school. Soon after getting across campus in the impact this inspired leader had on hts M.A., he landed a position as debate summer of 1952, he the institution that he seemed coach and English professor at Allegheny found an institution destined to administer. Named for College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. little changed since the Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, In the early 1930s, Allegheny's new early days of the Depression. The only president, William P. Tolley, saw Ander "new" building on campus, the Cassell founder of American, Anderson son's managerial potential and encouraged Center, had been built by the navy during presided over the most dramatic him to pursue a career in college adminis World War II. The roads were cinder-cov period of physical and educational tration. Now committed to academic life the future college president began work ered, students lived in Quonset huts and changes in the university's history. surplus shacks, and the library was on a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. housed in the old Battelle Building. The Again his plans changed. In 1943 Hurst separate graduate school and the Wash Anderson accepted the presidency of ington College of Law were located in a Centenary College in Hackettstown, New row of unkempt old townhouses Jersey, instead of completing his doctoral downtown. dissertation. During five years at Centen Toward the end of his tenure, Ander ary, Anderson displayed the kind of insti son reminisced about that first visit: "I tutional leadership that would character almost had heart failure . I've never seen a ize his future. He built on this foundation place in worse physical shape." In addi in fou r subsequent years as president of tion, the university was operating in the Hamline University in St. Paul. Then red, and its accreditation by the Middle came the challenging invitation to become States Association was in jeopardy. the president of The American By the time Anderson retired in 1968, University. The American University had been trans formed with the addition of twenty cam Between Huts and pus buildings, consolidation and reorgani Monuments zation of academic programs on one campus, and establishment of four new Anderson arrived in Washington in schools. Responsibility for advanced de 1952 with a clear vision of what needed to grees had moved to the individual col be done. In a show of support, the com leges after abolishment of the graduate mittee of facu lty who had been running school, and student enrollment had more the university on an interim basis stepped than doubled. down. He took swift and, for some, pain ful measures to reduce the critical $250,000 deficit. He ordered telephone Route to the Presidency lines temporarily removed from faculty of fices and fired a number of nontenured After receiving his bachelor of arts de faculty and support staff. Recognizing the gree from Ohio Wesleyan University, decades-long extravagance of maintaining where he also met Marian Powell, who two separate campuses with duplicated would be his wife of fifty-six years, Ander programs, Anderson began phasing out son entered law school at the University downtown operations. By the end of his of Michigan. Realizing he would not have By William E. Ross first year in office the deficit had been cut the funds to complete his law degree, he in oolf. switched to a master's program in speech Moving graduate and professional pro at orthwestern University. He planned grams to the uptown campus required An- SUMMER 1989 3 derson to embark on a crash building pro gram. Through it all, however, Anderson never lost sight of the primary mission of the university. Toward the end of the dec ade, he explained the physical require ments of The American University to a reporter: "I know we're not going to be building marble halls, but we want to strike a happy medium between huts and monuments." Anderson also moved swiftly to form ties with business and religious leaders in order to involve them in his plans for revi talizing the university. Within months of his arrival on campus, Anderson signed an innovative agreement with the Evening Star Broadcasting Company, providing the company with continued access to the transmission tower on campus in ex change for the construction of radio and television studios for use by the university and its students. This marked the first construction of a permanent building on campus since 1930. The American Uni versity also strengthened its ties to the Methodist Church, a move that brought the institution under the auspices of the Board of Education of the Methodist Church and provided a much-needed fi nancial base for developing new programs. (C) In 1955, AU opened the first school of business administration (now the Kogod College of Business Administration) in Washington. The School of Government and Public Administration (now the School of Public Affairs) was revamped in preparation for its eventual move uptown during the 1960s. AU's School of Nursing opened in 1965. In the mid 1950s, following a meeting with President Dwight Eisenhower, An derson became committed to the idea that The American University should play a major role in training those entering gov ernment foreign service. In 1956, the Gen eral Conference of the Methodist Church concurred and assigned $1 million for the construction of the School of Interna tional Service (SIS). President Eisenho wer attended the groundbreaking for the school, which opened in 1958. Hurst Anderson looked upon the crea tion of SIS as one of the high points of his 4 AMERICAN Anderson's most obvious legacy to AU is the dramatic growth in facilities and programs during his tenure. But he was equally tireless in his pursuit of strengthened community on campus and enhanced ties with government lea.ders. (A} At the groundbreaking ceremony for the John Sherman Myers Law Building with the Dean and his wife, Alvina Reckman Myers, March 1963.

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