Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe...

Registrar Frederick M. Irish, distingished Arizona educator, has served the college for 44 years. His has been a lasting and important contribution to the development of the college.

Arizona State At Tempe

A CLOSEUP OF ONE OF ARIZONA'S MAJOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS—AN ADVANCED AND PROGRESSIVE TEMPLE OF LEARNING IN AN ADVANCED AND PROGRESSIVE STATE.

Dr. Grady Gammage, president of Arizona State at Tempe, gives impetus and direction to a vigorous administration. Under the leadership of Dr. Gammage, the college is playing an important role in the educational program of the state.

Dr. A. J. Matthews, president emeritus of the college at Tempe, is beloved by faculty and students alike. He served as head of the college from 1900 to 1930 and laid the foundation of assured growth and progress. He is here greeting Miss Georgia Ann Holmsby, class of '87, at a recent reunion.

TEMPE is a small city, snuggling beside the Salt River and hugging the shadow of Tempe Butte. The name comes from Greek mythology, a trace of a scholarly wanderer who in pioneer days likened the picturesque setting to the famed Vale of Tempe in Greece. Beautifully situated between the most fertile of Arizona's vast irrigated acres and the rawest of broken desert lands, Tempe is the setting for modern life. To the north lie the broken hills and cactus gardens of Papago Park, a typical stretch of Arizona desert. On Tempe's other three sides are rich farms irrigated by the giant reservoirs in distant mountains. Tempe is a college town, home of old but progressive Arizona State Teachers College. Pretty trees in a hundred styles and thousands of flower gardens crowd the shady little city situated nine miles east of Phoenix on the main U. S. Highways 60, 70, 80 and 89. The town is also on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad and just five miles from Sky Harbor, the municipal airport of Phoenix. A small town, a quiet town, abundant with historical Indian and pioneer lore, Tempe is the home for nine months of each year for some 1,500 students who have chosen its unusual college for their education. The college has become the community's No. 1 industry. Concerning themselves with the civil and neighborhood problems similar to those of a thousand other towns of 3000 population anyplace in the land, the local people have themselves not appreciated their college's growth.

Arizona State Teachers college at Tempe is located in the heart of the Valley of the Sun. The city of Tempe is surrounded on three sides by rich farm lands on the fourth by the desert. The incomparable winter climate is one of the region's greatest assets.The growth of the colleges during the past decade has been phenomenal. The plant has been expanded to care for the increasing number of students coming from all over Arizona, from many other states and several foreign countries. Last term 1505 students enrolled at Tempe.

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Some of them even still call it the Normal School.

That is probably because the Territorial Normal School was established in 1885 when Tempe was still known by some as Hayden's Ferry and was little more than a wide cleared spot in the mesquite and cactus.

In 1912 Arizona was greatly excited as the territory became a state and the Normal School changed its name to the Tempe Normal School. Thirteen years later the school's twoyear education limitations were expanded, the institution becoming the Tempe State Teachers College.

In another three years the fully-accredited Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe came into being.

From 1885 until 1925 the college enrollment grew slowly. A peak of 672 students was reached in 1925, after which the register dropped to 523 students for 1929. All through these years the physical plant of the college likewise went through a gradual expansion.

Since then the story has been much different.

The enrollment for the college year of 1939 was 1505 students, nearly three times the enrollment of ten years ago.

And the college's phenomenal growth of recent years seems to have been due to a depression which most people have taken and accepted as a hindrance to progress.

Because Tempe folk are ordinary people, living in a rich agricultural area that felt the depression's pinch, they passively subscribed to the common belief. They read in newspapers and magazines, and listened by radio and on street-corners to reports that the depression had destroyed progress.

Some Tempe people thought that, but by no means all.

For those who walked or drove up East Eighth Streetthe old Mesa Highway-have seen the growth that has come to Arizona State during the depression.

Year by year the number of chatting modern co-eds who swing arm-in-arm down Eighth Street and Mill Avenue to the little post office to mail letters home to parents and friends Arizona State at Tempe is famed for its beautiful campus. Rows of stately palms tell of its mild climate, the richness of its verdure, its solidity and wise planning. Amid this beautiful setting is located the array of buildings that forms the college plant.

In any of the 36 states and three foreign nations from which students of the college come has increased.

But more unmistakable of the rapid growth is the number of men students in the college, who predominate in the student body that once was almost entirely composed of women.

For Arizona State, a college once dubbed a "girl's normal school," has come of age in the depression years, grown up like Little Eva to the amazement and pride of the citizens of the state.

In 1886 there were 33 students. By 1900 there were 131. In 1912, when statehood came, the school had 324 students. In 1925 there were 672 and in 1929, 523. Since then: 1930, 732; 1931, 955; 1932, 901; 1933, 930; 1934, 1044; 1935, 1047; 1936, 1149; 1937, 1254; 1938, 1393; and last year, the college year of 1939-40, there were 1505 regular session students.

The men in the college exceeded the women for the first time in 1935, when 534 men and 513 co-eds were enrolled. This past year there were 822 men and 683 women. But back in 1925 there were only 112 male students to 560 co-eds, an exact ratio of one-to-five.

The written record of the college's physical growth will be found in the records of the Public Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, not at the state capitol.

For while Arizona's law-makers were forced to tighten the state purse-strings during the depression years and accordingly restricted the appropriations to the college, the board of education and president of Arizona State turned to the federal agencies for the funds to provide needed buildings in which to house students who crowded the campus.

President Grady Gammage, soft-spoken conservative head of the college, had made an exhaustive study of the college administration and the growth in the student body. Boiled down, his findings revealed startling facts about the students who attended the Tempe college: Slightly more than 40 per cent of the state's population live within 20 miles of the college campus. That is within easy The Apache Indians were still on the warpath when the college at Tempe was founded. Old Main, built in 1894, has seen thousands of students come and go. Once the center of all student activities, Old Main is now used for class room work.

Established as the Territorial Normal School in 1885, Arizona State at Tempe has a record of achievement and growth that has held its own with the growth of the state. Its graduates have met with conspicuous success in educa-tion and other fields of endeavor. Left Matthews Library at the college, also the administration building. The Ira D. Payne Training School is housed at the college in a one story structure of brick in Spanish-Colonial style. While the chief purpose of the college is to train teachers, pre-professional training is offered in many other fields.

The “Howdy” greeting, a mark of western friendliness and informality at Tempe, is part of the spirit of the college at Tempe. Once termed “a girl's normal” school, Tempe now has men students in the majority in the student body.

Because of favorable climate and a belief by the faculty that students should participate in recreational activities, Arizona State Teachers college stresses a widespread sports program for all students. Archery is one of the popular sports for co-eds.

driving distance and is proved every morning when autos swing into the campus parking lots from small towns all around the Valley of the Sun - from Mesa, Chandler, Higley, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Glendale, and from other rural communities.

When the depression swept down on the agricultural folk who inhabit Central Arizona, many a family budget was curtailed and Johnny or Mary with his or her eyes set on attending some large university-had to alter or cancel plans for a college education.

So Johnny and Mary, forced to adjust their plans to the abbreviated incomes of their parents, pricked up their ears when they heard the Tempe college mentioned. A few venturesome souls investigated and found that the college offered a rather liberal course of study and many other advantages.

Recognized as one of the finest teachers colleges in the country, Arizona State at Tempe sees many productive years behind, welcomes the future with the promise of continued growth and expansion. The college, with the Teachers College at Flagstaff, and the University at Tucson, provide finest educational faculties for the youth of the state. The college at Tempe has built slowly and well. The setting of the college is unusually attractive. The campus of 85 acres is within easy walking distance of the main business section of Tempe and nine miles from Phoenix. There are 22 buildings in the campus plant. The two shown above are the Arts building (left) and North Hall, one of the residences for women on the campus.

The B. B. Mouer Activity Building, named in honor of the late Governor Moeur, who served longer than any other man on the board of education of the college, is the center for women's physical education activities and is also the center for social activities of the student body. PWA and WPA funds made possible needed building expansion at the college.

The college program at Tempe is complete and inclusive. There is something of interest for every young man and woman in the extra-curricular activities provided by the college. Every student is urged to participate in some such activity. Band, dramatics, glee club, journalism-nothing is neglected in the college program. Social snobbery is the one taboo.

Student activities are predicated on the college providing an education for a student as cheaply as possible. For instance, fee for board in the college dining halland dormitory room is $25.00 per four-week month and according to the catalog a student living in a dormitory can get by for as little as $308.00 for one college year.

That needy students may be helped as much as possible, the college offers many opportunities for part time employment for both men and women students. While state students are not required to pay tuition, out-of-state students are charged $45.00 for the school year. Each year finds more out-of-state students attending the college at Tempe.

In athletics, Arizona State is competing with leading colleges of the southwest and with many Pacific coast schools. Last year's champions played in the Sun Bowl at El Paso. A fine, modern football stadium has been a late building achievement at Tempe.

Fees were low, social requirements were modest, campus dress was informal, the faculty seemed alert and intelligent, and the graduates were working as teachers-not with large salaries, but still eating three times a day and moreover, the college was close to home.

It was so close that many students gathered in groups of three or four and commuted in automobiles on a share-the-cost system.

Then some other students made another discovery. As the number of students increased, the members of the faculty found they had more work to do than could be done within a day, and they asked the administration for assistants. The employment of more teachers was out of the question, a study of the budget showed, and the possibility of hiring salaried assistants likewise could not be accomplished.

Out of the poverty came a policy of giving students jobs to defray part of their expenses. Students who needed help were allowed to work for all or part of their board and room bill, which amounted to something like $25 a month. (Turn to Page 31) College glee clubs and musical organizations appear regularly in concerts in towns and cities throughout Arizona. The college faculty, composed of professors and instructors of merit and ability, has been chosen with the needs of the students always in mind.