Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1948 [PAGE 955]

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954

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[January 8

provide the funds required for the construction, estimated to cost not more than $200,000. The Association's financial condition will permit such expenditures, and this would be in keeping with the policy of using surplus funds to provide recreational facilities for the students and faculty. The Directors of the Athletic Association further propose that the present nine-hole golf course at Florida Avenue and Fourth Street be converted into a baseball park and playing fields. One-half of the area would be needed for baseball and the other half would be available for general recreational purposes. This would concentrate all of the recreational facilities for men in the vicinity of the George Huff Gymnasium and the Stadium. The Athletic Association would release Illinois Field for general University purposes. This proposal has been considered by the University faculty Building P r o gram Committee, and it is in favor of doing this. I recommend that the Board of Trustees approve it. I further recommend that consideration be given to the acquisition of additional land surrounding the Kimmel farm for possible development as a residential housing area of the suburban type. This might be undertaken jointly by the Board of Trustees and the Athletic Association. To implement this idea, if the Board agrees it is worth developing, I recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Buildings and Grounds for consideration and report to the Board.

On motion of Mr. Davis, the proposals involving the construction of a golf course on the Kimmel farm, the future use of the site of the present golf course, and the release of Illinois Field were approved. On motion of Mr. Williamson, the matter of the acquisition of additional land was referred to the Committee on Buildings and Grounds for study and report to the Board.

PURCHASE OF ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTER (EDVAC) (4) I recommend that the Board of Trustees authorize the purchase of an electronic digital computer ( E D V A C ) at an estimated maximum cost of $150,000 from the Reeves Instrument Company, New York. These machines are now being constructed by the Reeves Instrument Company on a limited basis, with orders thus far from the Ordnance Department and the Signal Corps of the United States Army, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Bureau of Standards. Prompt action by the University of Illinois in acquiring such equipment will give the University leadership in the whole Middle West in various areas of scientific development. In performance this machine is the equivalent of 1,000 electrically operated calculating machines. It performs difficult mathematical problems in periods of time ranging from a few seconds to a few hours. It will perform some problems in mathematics, electrical engineering, genetics, meteorology, and psychology that have been the despair of scientists until now. In further explanation of what this machine will do and how it will be used in research programs, I have asked Dean Ridenour of the Graduate College and Chairman of the University Research Board and Professor Nathan M. Newmark of the Department of Civil Engineering to appear before the Board today and explain the case. It is proposed to pay half the cost of the machine from research funds already budgeted for the Graduate College and the rest by special appropriation. I therefore recommend an appropriation of $75,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, from the General Reserve Fund for this purpose.

Dean Ridenour and Professor Newmark discussed this matter. On motion of Dr. Meyer, the purchase was approved and the appropriation was made as recommended, by the following vote: Aye, Mr. Davis, Mr. Fornof, Mrs. Holt, Mr. Livingston, Mr. McKelvey, Mr. McLaughlin, Dr. Meyer, Mr. Nickell, Mr. Williamson; no, none; absent, Mr. Green, Dr. Luken.