VOL. 8, NO. 5 JANUARY 1962 New University Calendar a Two-Year Experiment: Whitney The new University calendar which went into effect at suggested broadly in the University survey, final examina- the beginning of the current academic year is viewed by tions would be given less emphasis in the work of individ- the Administration as a two-year experiment, and is not to ual courses by dropping formal examination periods at the be considered as a preliminary to the adoption of a trimes- end of each semester. Dr. Vincent H. Pro- ter system, according to Whitney, "In addition to its educational the fessor of and Chairman of the Committee on advantages, proposed Sociology calendar would make possible greater use of space and Calendar and Class Rostering. Implementation equipment at the University and would ease the transition "Some persons have assumed that the steps so far taken to a year-round program if one were ever required by are preliminary to the adoption of a trimester system," future circumstances. in a letter for distribution to all Dr. Whitney said prepared "These views were to over a dozen members later this month. presented faculty fully-affiliated faculty "Actually, and administrative and were the Trustees has stated, 'There are no groups adopted by as Provost Goddard recently in 1960. The new calendar is now in effect but, in different from the one May, plans at present to adopt a calendar line with the Committee's recommendations, it is viewed now in operation ... Any change from this pattern would as a two-year experiment. During this time it will be be made only after full consultation with the faculty.'" (Continued on Page 3) Dr. Whitney's statement, which is presented in more detailed form in his letter, follows: "In May, 1958, President Harnwell appointed a Calen- Harnwell, Winn dar Study Committee. Its purpose was to determine whether Accept the University calendar then in existence was the most appropriate one both for meeting the needs of students Key Advisory Posts in City and faculty and for utilizing the University's resources President Harnwell was named by Mayor Richardson effectively in the light of changing national requirements. Dilworth last week as chairman of a three-man citizens' board of in the strike at the "The Committee undertook a systematic review of the inquiry prolonged Philadelphia calendar innovations in other schools and their conse- plant of the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company. The board was set as of a the and quences. It considered the advantages and disadvantages up part proposal by Mayor of the trimester, two-semester and quarter systems. In Governor Lawrence to end the five-month-old dispute between the and the International of particular, it sought out the views of students and faculty company Association members at the University both through a questionnaire Machinists, which has threatened to erupt into violence sent to all the faculty and to ten percent of the students, with the hiring of new employees by the firm. and of its views to the Senate through presentation Faculty Another member of the University administration called and other groups. upon for public service recently is Dean Willis J. Winn, of "Ultimately the Committee recommended a modified the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. At its calendar providing for two semesters of 15 weeks each year-end meeting on December 28 the board of governors plus two consecutive six-week summer sessions. Students of the Federal Reserve System announced the appointment who attended the latter could secure credit for four-fifths of Dean Winn as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of a regular term's work. The fall semester would run from of Philadelphia, to serve for a three-year term. Dean Winn just after Labor Day until just before Christmas and would will serve under the chairmanship of Walter E. Hoadley, eliminate the 'lost' week of classes in January. The second vice president of the Armstrong Cork Co., newly named term would run from mid-January to about May I. As head of the Reserve Bank here. 2 THE ALMANAC "Rhyming Dictionary" Being Educational Council to Hear Updated at Pennsylvania Report on Development Plan The "rhyming dictionary" used for centuries by poets President Harnwell and Dr. David R. Goddard, Provost, and song-writers is at last being updated, in major fashion, will present a preliminary report of the Joint Committee on the Pennsylvania campus. on the Integrated Development Plan at the next meeting But, as might be expected, the updating isn't for the of the Educational Council, to be held Tuesday, Jan- benefit of song-writers and poets. It's an Air Force project, uary 23. and it's being done with computers. The meeting, scheduled for 4 P.M. in the Benjamin Some 400,000 words are being compiled in the new Franklin Room of Houston Hall, will also hear a report reverse-alphabetized word-list under the direction of Dr. on Advanced Placement, and on proposals regarding the A. F. Brown, Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics. titles, qualifications, and terms of appointment for junior He and his assistants are feeding the contents of an un- members of the instructional and research staff. Plan is ex- abridged dictionary and of several technical dictionaries The report on the Integrated Development into the computers, which do the reverse alphabetizing. pected to deal with the results achieved by a committee of In the process, the computers reverse each word- the Faculty, Administration and Trustees in attempting to making "chivalrous" into "suorlavihc," for instance-and define educational goals in terms of University objectives then turn it around again for printing. Thus, although the and fund-raising projects over the next decade. A special words will read normally in the finished product, they will meeting of the Council has been scheduled tentatively for be listed by the alphabetical order of their endings. April 30, to consider the Joint Committee's final report The uses of such a word-list, says Dr. Brown, are many, on the matter. although until recently the market was so limited that the was "Walker's Dic- only such listing available Rhyming 75th Convocation tionary," which has a modest 34,000 entries and has been Anniversary used, since 1775, by you-know-who. Some of the new uses include the study of speech Honors University Museum sounds and derivational forms to help acoustics experts The University Museum, home of one of the world's solve perception problems, or teachers to prepare word- outstanding collections of ancient and primitive art, was lists for their students. honored on the occasion of its 75th anniversary last Satur- Computers and the computer age were responsible for day, January 20, with a special University Convocation in the change in demand, both because they make such tasks Irvine Auditorium. of sorting simple and economical, and because of the devel- Six men who have made contributions to our knowledge opment of mechanical translating, which is simply trans- of the history and culture of ancient man received honorary lating from one language to another by machine, and degrees at the hands of President Harnwell as part of mechanical storage and retrieval. The latter is a "kerneli- the ceremonies. zation" process, involving the storage of material in such a They included J. Eric S. Thompson, a member of the way that it can be readily scanned and retrieved by the Faculty Board of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cam- machine. The reverse-alphabetized list will help to deter- bridge University, who delivered the principal address. mine how and what words or forms of words are most Dr. Thompson is an authority on Maya hieroglyphic adaptable for such processes. writing and author of "The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization." Others who received honorary degrees were: Clinical Research Group Henry F. duPont, founder of famed Winterthur Museum near Wilmington. Holds Session on Campus Dr. Ahmed Fakhry, Professor of the History of Ancient More than 800 physicians and scientists engaged in Egypt at the University of Cairo and now touring American clinical research throughout the eastern United States museums with a collection of treasures from the tomb of attended the annual meeting of the American Federation King Tutankhamen. for Clinical Research, Eastern Section, at the University John F. Lewis. Jr., a member of the Board of Managers Museum on Thursday and Friday, January 11-12. of University Museum, director of the Philadelphia Art They heard E. Northcote Parkinson, famed British Commission and an Associate Trustee of the University. originator of "Parkinson's Law," discuss the application Percy C. Madeira, Jr., former president of the Land of that whimsical concept to the field of medical research, Title Bank and Trust Company, President of the University and listened to a panel discussion of "Government Financ- Museum's Board of Managers since 1941 and a member ing in Medicine and Medical Research," at which the of that board since 1930. panelists were Dr. I. S. Ravdin, the University's Vice Adolfo Molina-Orantes, former Dean of the Law School President for Medical Affairs and president-elect of the of the University of San Carlos, Guatemala, and now chief American Cancer Society; Boisfeuillet Jones, special assist- coordinator of the University Museum's training program ant for health and medical affairs to the U. S. Secretary at Tilcal, Guatemala, in collaboration with the Rockefeller of Health, Education and Welfare; Joseph Hinsey, direc- Foundation. tor of New York Hospital, and Dr. A. S. Relman, research The University Museum had its origin in 1887 in a professor of medicine at Boston University School of small collection of objects from ancient Assyria, assembled Medicine.