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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944
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IC&2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES into account volume only and say that in so far as this is a criterion of the quality of a faculty, the faculty of the University of Illinois has not deteriorated but, on the contrary, has improved since 1934. Faculty Ratings cm a National Basis It will be recalled that the Hughes Report 19 on graduate instruction, made in April 1934, contained the judgments of well-known scholars in various fields concerning the rating of departments in various universities with respect to the adequacy of the staff and equipment to prepare candidates for the doctorate. This report rated departments as approved or not approved. The 20 percent of the institutions rated highest for any given department were starred for this department. Out of 29 departments passed upon at the University of Illinois, 28 were given a rating of "approved," four among the 28 approved were starred. These four departments named in order as rated by the report were chemistry, civil engineering, political science, and mathematics. In order to obtain a comparison between 1934 and the present the Commission felt it wise to take a sampling of the departments at the University of Illinois and request contemporary opinions of eminent scholars in the fields concerned as to whether these departments at the University of Illinois are today: (1) about the same as, ( 2 ) better than, (3) not so good as, they were about ten years ago. Twelve departments were chosen and from nine to twenty-three judges were asked to rate the departments. An excellent response was received from this inquiry. To 138 letters written, 120 replies were received and only nine individuals who replied declined to rate the departments as requested. The Commission does not for one moment assume this gives results comparable in reliability with the Hughes Report. Nevertheless, the results are at least indicative of what would likely be found by a more comprehensive study. Of the four departments rated as outstanding in the Hughes Report, three were rated as being currently about the same as ""Report of the Committee on Graduate Instruction," Educational Record, XV ( A p r i l 1 9 3 4 ) , p p . 192-234. [64 —A.C.E. Report]
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