Union Theological Seminary Alumni Bulletin dated January 1957

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I Page 2 ALUMNI BULLETIN OF UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY January, 1957 The Alumni Bulletin of Union Theological Seminary Office THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 3041 Broadway, N e w York 27, N. Y. Editor DAVID K. BARNWELL Advisor EDWIN O. KENNEDY Associates IDA L. VAN DYCK Auburn Representative CHARLES E. MATHEWS Published three times each year, in Fall, Winter and Spring Permit No. 5755, New York, N. Y. DUGALD CHAFFEE RICHARD W. KAHLENBERG fiAsiiddsmJtX, QoLuumiL THE BUILDING AND REBUILDING OF A FACULTY "Union Seminary lives by its brains," was one of Dr. Coffin's favorite aphor­isms. By this he meant that since Union almost alone among front-rank semi­naries claims neither sponsorship nor support from any ecclesiastical or uni­versity body, its standing must rest upon the distinction of its scholars and its attraction to promising students upon the power of their teaching. Next to the primary responsibility of each professor for his own teaching, the ceaseless search for scholarly talent is the Faculty's most relentless duty as it is also their most exciting preoccupation. The first consideration, of course, is quality. Among the many sage injunctions poured by Dr. Coffin upon his successor at the latter's inauguration, none is more continuously in mind than to "keep your eyes vigilant to detect theological luminaries rising on any horizon" and to "make sure that these rising luminaries whom you espy are steady lights, not mere flashes." But numbers is an important secondary consideration, especially since the size of the teaching staff determines the burden upon each member. In American higher education, a ratio of one instructor for each ten students is generally recognized as the ideal norm at the undergraduate level, and one instructor per eight students at the postgraduate level. Since our B.D. instruction is in some respects at the bachelor's level, one instructor per nine students may be taken as a reasonable norm for Union Seminary. As a matter of fact, in the two decades between the World Wars, although the size of both Faculty and Student Body fluctuated considerably, the instructor-student ratio continued virtually constant at 1 to 9. Then, with the influx of post-war veterans and the sharp increase in student enrollment, the proportion shifted sharply, to 1 to 13 and then 1 to 15. Had this imbalance been allowed to continue, it would have constituted a cause for real concern. Nothing gives m e keener satisfaction than to report to the Alumni that in the current year the total instructional staff for somewhat less han 450 theological students stands at 70, that they represent a teaching force equivalent to 50 full-time instructors, and that the faculty-student ratio now stands at better than 1 to 9. Here are the detailed figures at the several academic ranks with a comparison of just ten years ago:- SIZE OF FACULTY AND FACULTY-STUDENT RATIO 19 4 6 19 5 6 Professors Associate Profs. . Assistant Profs. . Instructors Lecturers Tutors Full­time 11 6 1 1 - - Part-time 3 2 - - 15 Total Instruc- Persons tors 14 8 1 1 15 12 7 1 1 5 Full­time 21 6 3 9 1 Part-time 3 3 - • 1 18 5 Total Instruc- Persons tors 24 9 3 10 19 5 22 7 3 9 6 3 19 20 39 26 40 30 70 50 Faculty-Student Ratio 1 to 15 1 to 9 When the instructors in the School of Sacred Music are added to the above figures, the Seminary's total teaching staff stands at almost one hundred, in the following classifications: Professors 28 Instructors 10 Associate Professors .... 11 Tutors 5 Assistant Professors .... 3 Lecturers 35 92 This is by all odds the largest teaching force in the history of Union Seminary. In the forthcoming issue of the Quarterly Review, Dean Bennett will discuss some effects of so numerous a membership upon the Faculty's current re-examination of the Seminary's aca­demic program. H E N R Y P. V A N DUSEN Alumni Fund Pledges NeW High in 1956-57 Running well ahead of last year at this time, the Annual Alumni Fund gives promise of breaking the record bf giving by alumni for the support of the Seminary. As of De­cember 1, contributions have been received for $4,630.25, with pledges for an additional $892.50 toward the goal of $15,000 by June 30, 1957. Charles B. McConnell '37, new chairman of the Class Organization Committee, and G. Barrett Rich, III, '25, chairman of the Finance Com­mittee, met with their committees jointly in November to devise ways and means to stimulate alumni giving. Encouraged by the results achieved by colleges and other semi­naries through class giving, class contact officers in Seminary classes from 1906 to 1956 have been asked to write to their classmates to pre­sent a personal appeal for the Fund. Alumni of the School of Sacred Music will be approached by their own officers. Wrote one recent graduate: "We are happily settled in our new church home here and each day we Trial Year At Union Proves Fruitful Eleven of the sixteen Rockefeller Fellows who completed their trial year of theological study have re­turned, or will, to the Seminary. Nine have entered their Middle Year, and two are studying else­where this year with the intention of returning to Union for a B.D. degree. This plan was undertaken last year to interest promising young men in the Christian Ministry. Al­most all of the sixteen men wrote in high appreciation of their trial year. The strong testimonies of those who have not chosen the pro­fession of the Christian Ministry indicates their intention to serve as Christian laymen. Eight Rockefeller Fellows appointed for the current year are enrolled at Union. seem to grow more in the debt of U.T.S. Whatever I shall accomplish will be because of the inspiring training that I received there." Out of such appreciation come the gifts of alumni that help Union to carry on its work. fi/Wpl&Aifliu folwWL A WORD TO THE ALUMNI 1 V - <m^£i: The editor has suggested that you might welcome "a word" from one who views the Seminary today from a kind of tri-focal point of view-as a fairly "new addition to the faculty", as a re­cent parish minister who spent a num­ber of years in the pastorate, and as an authentic (if aging) alumnus. One won­ders if this is the 3 point homiletical mind rearing its triadic head. But to cooperate -• three outstanding impres­sions emerge. First, the sheer scope of the Semin­ary's educational enterprise. Some fig­ures are illuminating, and a little breath-taking: 92 faculty members, representing 22 curricular departments, offer in two semesters 180 courses, to 640 students. One can understand how, not without reason, Union today has been well called "a theological university." At the same time, the faculty-student ratio now stands at less than 1 to 9, and we seem able to hold in effective balance our double function as a graduate school of religion and a training school for Christian vocation. This dual role is not without tensions, but the tensions strike one as basically wholesome and certainly stimulating. Secondly, the enthusiasm of Union people, both students and faculty, for the parish ministry. Sometimes we have been accused of being so cerebrally high-powered that an undue proportion of students are supposed to have been subverted into "going into teach­ing." But again some figures: a statistical survey of B.D. graduates from 9 classes (1947 to 1955 inclusive) reveals that of those reporting, 71 So plus are today at work in parish churches, and slightly more than 10% have been intellectually corrupted and "gone into teach­ing." This only corroborates the feeling of keen anticipation, that at times becomes outright excitement, with which our students look forward to the pastorate. (All of which warms the heart of an in­curable parish parson who teaches Pastoral Theology!) Third, the unprecedented interest of the Seminary community in worship, manifest in many ways: in the structure and rhythm of our worship life, with three daily chapel services, weekly early com­munions beside monthly communions, plus special preaching and liturgical services; in the Days of Prayer each semester; in refectory table-talk and dormitory discussion; in worship committee meetings; in B.D. theses and term paper topics; in faculty concern. The mood of the Seminary today is perhaps well illustrated by a recent service of intercessory prayer specially requested by the students at the time of the Egyptian and Hungarian outbreaks. It was held at 10 p.m. and James Chapel was crowded. A faculty colleague remarked after­wards that, whereas 10 years ago the students would probably have held a Monday Forum or 20 years ago would have joined a picket line, this year they wanted to meet in worship and prayer. These things seem to m e pregnant with meaning and promise. As long as Union gives high place to worship and devotion, takes vigorously and imaginatively its educational task, and steadily con­tinues to send its graduates out on to the parish firing-line, surely we can all take heart. PAUL W. HOON