Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1918 [PAGE 553]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1917]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

547J

gible for appointment as Scholars, and second-year and third-year graduate students are eligible for appointment as Fellows. In view of the fact that the appointees to the research fellowships in the Engineering Experiment Station are in most cases just entering upon their graduate studies, it is clear that the name now applied to these positions is not in conformity with that employed by the Graduate School. The holders of scholarships and fellowships in the Graduate School are not required to render service to the University, while the holders of the research fellowships in the Engineering Experiment Station are expected to devote half of their time during two years to the service of the Station. In other words, these men are really Half-time Assistants rather than Fellows, as the latter term is employed by the Graduate School. In the past the Executive Staff of the Engineering Experiment Station has considered the applications for research fellowships, and the recommendations for appointments to these fellowships have been transmitted to the Dean of the Graduate School and by him to the President of the University for approval. In a number of instances, for reasons which seem proper to the Station Staff, men have been recommended for these fellowships, who have not been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. Under the procedure described, the Dean of the Graduate School has very properly declined to consider his action as a mere formality, and he has consequently felt it his privilege to challenge the decisions of the Station Staff in the case of appointments which seem to him improper. In view of the fact that the men occupying these research fellowships are in reality research assistants, as well as graduate students, the Station Staff is unwilling to delegate to an intermediate authority the decision concerning the appointment of these assistants who are to be assigned to the various departments of the College of Engineering. In view of these conditions and with the approval of the Executive Staff of the Engineering Experiment Station, I am transmitting the enclosed recommendations concerning these positions, addressed to you and the Board of Trustees. Trusting that you will approve these recommendations, I am, Very cordially yours, C. R. RICHARDS Director of the Engineering Experiment Station October 10, 1917

To THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES :

With the approval of the Executive Staff of the Engineering Experiment Station, I recommend 1. That the Research Fellows in the Engineering Experiment Station be hereafter designated as "Research Graduate Assistants." 2. That graduates of approved American and foreign universities and technical schools, who are prepared to undertake graduate study in engineering, physics, or chemistry, be eligible for appointment as Research Graduate Assistants.