Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944 [PAGE 1082]

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

IO79

faculty. This inbreeding may easily lead to institutional provincialism. Any institution of higher education needs new blood constantly added to its faculty in order to obtain that stimulation which comes from the thinking of other academic groups. A study of degrees held by individuals of the rank of associate and above in 1934-35 on the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois reveals that 38.5 percent of them had at least one degree from the mother institution. The corresponding figure for 1941-42 is 39.6 percent. When the particular academic ranks are scrutinized we find that in 1934-35, 26.9 percent of the professors hold some degree from the University of Illinois and in 1941-42 this figure is 36.8 percent. In 1934-35, 5i-2 percent of the associate professors held some degree from the University of Illinois while by 1941-42 the figure had decreased to 36.8 percent. In 1934-35, 3 9 0 percent of the assistant professors held Illinois degrees and by 1941-42 the percentage had increased to 47.3 percent. In 1934-35, 56.4 percent of the associates held degrees from the University but by 1941-42 the figure had decreased to 37.5 percent. When the rank of instructor is examined as a group a very striking contrast between 1934 and 1942 is found. In 1934-35 there were 64.3 percent of the individuals of this rank who held some degree from the University of Illinois while in 1941-42 only 36.2 percent of the instructors were graduates of the mother institution. An examination of the sources of degrees held by persons on the Urbana campus of the rank of associate and above by colleges reveals that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has by far the most cosmopolitan faculty and that the 1941-42 figure in that college on individuals holding all degrees from institutions other than the University of Illinois was 72.9 percent while in 1934-35 it was 72.4 percent. Next in order is the College of Engineering with 52.9 percent in 1934-35 and 60.9 percent in 1941-42. Agriculture has the largest relative number of teachers with degrees from Illinois: 65.8 percent in 1934-35 and 64.9 percent in 1941-42. Trends in the Colleges of Education and Commerce are in opposite directions in the two schools. In Education in 1934-35 there were 53.3 percent of the individuals in the ranks under discussion who

[A.C.E. Report—61]