In 1916, when the Academy was discontinued as a separate department of the University, the Academy Building was remodeled for use by the Biology Department. Part of the third story was "fitted up" as a biological laboratory. When Dr. Emory W. Hunt assumed the presidency of the University in 1919, provision had been made for retired President Harris and his family to reside in the building in the apartment of the former Principal. Dr. Harris, however, moved to Scranton and the building was used by the Biology Department.

From 1918 to 1932: First Building, Biology Building, Taylor Hall

From 1918 to 1924, the former Academy building was called The First Building in the catalog. In 1920, the third floor of the building was converted from dormitory rooms to rooms for recitation, and the former dining room and basement were used as a printing plant to produce university materials. From 1924 to 1932, the building was called the Biology Building. In June, 1932, acting on a recommendation by the Class of 1872, the Board of Trustees named the building Stephen W. Taylor Hall, in memory of Stephen Taylor who had written the charter for the University at Lewisburg and who had been its first professor.

The Annex: Biology, Bacteriology and English

The Annex ( or East Hall ), which was constructed in 1889, was referred to as the Bucknell Recitation Hall during the 1930's and the 1940's. It is not visible in the photograph but was located to the far left. In the 1920, the large room on the first floor of East Hall had been remodeled for use by the Biology Department. In the 1920's the first floor contained laboratory space for bacteriology, and the second and third floors were used by the English Department. Around 1926, the bacteriological laboratory provided space for a "dispensary service for students having minor ailments", which was the beginning of the Bucknell health service that developed into the infirmary. Later, the laboratory provided diagnostic services for students admitted to the Ziegler Memorial Infirmary. Beginning in 1926, the bacteriological laboratory tested the milk, ice cream and water served at the college dining rooms.

In the 1920's, the bacteriological laboratories also served the Borough of Lewisburg and the surrounding area.

Because of very close connections with the Lewisburg Board of Health, the bacteriological laboratories were called upon in 1924 to act as Board of Health laboratories for Lewisburg. As such, the laboratory made routine analyses of drinking water and of milk served in the town. This service directly affected all men students who were boarding in fraternity houses.

In the four years between 1924 and 1927 inclusive, the laboratories tested more than 1000 samples of milk and milk products alone. This work was so administered that when the Milk Control Division of the Pennsylvania Department of Health began to organize milk control work in the State on the milk control district plan, Bucknell was chosen as the center of Milk Control District Number Four. In the subsequent organization of this milk control district, Bucknell automatically became the center and controlling agency of the milk supplied by almost 150 dairies and distributing plants serving milk to a total population of upwards of 50,000 persons in incorporated cities and boroughs in this portion of the valley of the Susquehanna River.

The service supplied by the biology department to the borough continued through the 1930's into the 1940's. In 1945, Dr. John Winter Rice, Professor of Bacteriology, was “...the Lewisburg health officer, with direct supervision of the community’s water and milk supplies.” He also tested the milk supplied by the college farm for use in the college dining rooms.

Taylor Hall in 1945

In 1945, Taylor Hall contained laboratories for work in zoology, embryology, histology, bacteriology, physiology, and anatomy; recitation rooms; a large lecture room on the first floor; and offices for faculty in biology, mathematics, psychology and zoology. Bucknell Recitation Hall contained offices for faculty in astronomy, bacteriology, education, mathematics, and philosophy; and recitation rooms and laboratories for work in physiology and bacteriology. Mathematics classes were taught there also. It was connected to Taylor Hall by a covered passageway. The South side of the Bucknell Recitation Hall had a large outside fire escape.

Biology in 1945

After the publication of the Flexner Report in 1911, medical education was changed greatly in the United States. The biology department had been involved with the education of future physicians since the late nineteenth century when Dr. George Groff , M.D. was Professor of Organic Science, and pre-medical training continued to be an important mission of the department during the 1920’s and 1930’s. In 1939, shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, Vice President Romeyn H. Rivenberg reported to the Board of Trustees,

…that 12 of the 17 seniors preparing for medicine were accepted by Medcial Colleges as early as February, although they had from eight to ten times as many applications for admission as they had places available; that they were accepted by Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Harvard, University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins.”

By the late 1930’s, the biology department was emphasizing the relationship of specific biology courses to the preparation of students “for entrance to the best medical schools”, entrance into “public health work as laboratory assistants or teaching of hygiene in the public schools,” and for preparation to “teach biology or to enter graduate school.”

The Bachelor of Science in Biology degree had two courses in 1945. The four-year general course was described in the 1945-1946 Catalogue:

The curriculum in biology may be adapted to such outlets as the study of medicine and allied subjects; the teaching of biology or botany (after fulfillment of state certification requirements for high school positions); industrial, laboratory and industrial technology; graduate studies in bacteriology, botany, genetics, and zoology; experimental laboratories; state and federal departments of plant or animal science industries; and public health work.

The five-year medical technology course produced “…a person whose pre-clinical education [was] sufficiently broad and whose hospital training [was] extended to such a level of adeptness of skill as to enable the student to complete and interpret, under the direction of a licensed physician, the numerous bio-chemical, bacteriological, histological, serological, and other tests which are used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.” This course was described in the same catalogue:

For those students who present exceptional qualifications, there is available the following academic and technical training which leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science (in biology) and eligibility for registration by the Board of Registry of the American Society of Clinical Pathology. The pre-clinical instruction normally occupies four years, or eight semesters of college work. The clinical training occupies twelve additional consecutive months of didactic instruction and laboratory practice in the pathological department of an approved hospital closely associated with Bucknell University in this training program.

In 1945, Dr. John W. Rice was Professor of Bacteriology, Dr. Norman Hamilton Stewart was Professor of Zoology, and Roy C. Tasker was Associate Professor of Biology. Dr. Wayne Manning, Assistant Professor of Botany, had his office and taught his classes in the Botany Building located next to Taylor Hall.

Education in 1945

After Llewellyn Phillips, Class of ’92, became Dean of the College in 1918, he continued teaching classes in the department of education. After his death in 1922, Phillips was replaced by Dr. George B. Lawson who moved to the philosophy department in 1924. Lawson was replaced by Dr. Frank G. Davis, Class of ’11, who was still department head in 1945.

On the coming of Dr. Lawson as professor of education, there was established at Bucknell a two-year course for graduates of two-year normal schools who had completed a standard four-year high school course. Probably the man most influential in the establishment of this course was Dr. William C. Bartol, then head of the Department of Mathematics. The course was put into operation in 1924-25, and many graduates of normal schools were sent out with college degrees.

Beginning in the 1924-1925 Academic Year, the Bachelor of Science in Education degree was offered, and the first degree was conferred in June, 1925.

[The Bachelor of Science in Education] differed from the A.B. course in that it aimed especially to train teachers, whereas the A.B. course had the general aim of giving a well-rounded education, regardless of the vocational desires of the student. [The Bachelor of Science in Education degree and the two-year course] were in effect until the fall of 1928, when a thorough revision of the four-year course was made and the two-year course for normal graduates was discontinued.

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts degree were still “certificated for teaching” if they elected the required courses in education and other subjects. During the decade of the 1920’s many teachers were prepared by the education department at Bucknell.

According to the records of the Teacher Bureau of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, beginning with the year 1921, and ending with 1930, 933 Bucknell graduates [had] been granted certificates to teach. Bucknell now rank[ed] fifth among the 53 Pennsylvania colleges (not counting the 13 state teachers’ colleges), in the number of teachers prepared. She [was] exceeded in numbers certificated only by the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Pennsylvania State

In 1945, students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Education degree took essentially the same general education courses as students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts degree, except they were not required to take foreign language courses, a religion course, or Philosophy 100. They were required to take English 131, “Fundamentals of Speech,” and English 201, “Advanced Composition” (which also was required of all English majors). In addition, they took twenty-three semester hours in education courses, including “… eight semester hours of student teaching in the first half of the first semester of their senior year”, which was for eight weeks of the sixteen-week semester. Students also had to complete a number of courses in a teaching field:

Candidates for this degree who are preparing to teach secondary school subjects will complete two 24-hour sequences in teaching subjects, or one 24-hour and two 18-hour sequences.

There were additional scholastic and personal requirements for those desiring to do become teachers:

In order that only persons who are capable of rendering adequate service may be sent into the profession, the privilege of taking the course in practice teaching (Education 207) is restricted to students whose scholastic average for the freshman and sophomore years is C or better. Additional requirements are good health, character, personality, and acceptable spoken and written English.

The Teacher Appointment Bureau was under the direction of the education department. This bureau had been “…organized for the purpose of placing students in desirable positions” and was “…also available for Bucknell alumni in the teaching profession.” There was no fee charged for the use of the bureau.

The department of education also had graduate certification programs. Just before the Second World War began, Vice-President Rivenburg stated in his report to the Board of Trustees,

…that Bucknell is one of only five Universities authorized by the Pennsylvania State Council of Education to give graduate work, for Principal’s Certificates and Superintendent’s Commissions, the other four being the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Pennsylvania State College.”

Two graduate degrees were offered, the Master of Arts and the Master of Science in Education which were “…based on the requirements for the corresponding undergraduate degrees, the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science in Education, as given at Bucknell.”

Mathematics in 1945

After the arrival of President Emory Hunt in 1919, many changes occurred in various academic departments within the university. One major change was the separation of engineering from the mathematics department.

With the advent of the new administration, each of the general courses in engineering, as well as those in surveying and in physics, was made a separate, independent department, with a responsible head of its own. Thus made free, engineering soon made itself felt. The University began to push forward.

A second major change occurred in mathematics in the mid 1920’s.

Another radical readjustment of the mathematics curriculum was made in 1925. Among the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, there [had] always been, from the founding of the University, a large number of units in mathematics. In 1924 this number was six. However, these were the times when colleges everywhere were busy deleting required subjects from their curricula, and were introducing, in their stead, elective ones. In agreement with a world-wide theory that colleges were thus made broader, better, more cultural, Bucknell went to extremes in mathematics. From the list of requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, she cut mathematics down from six required units to no required units whatever. This change was made in 1925…..

It was effective. It cut from the classes in mathematics the indifferent students. This was a relief to the teacher in charge and very helpful to the real students in the class. It very much improved the all-around work of both. Moreover, it gave to the abler and more ambitious students harder and more interesting tasks, and greater freedom to do them. For those who were ambitious, Bucknell added many new mathematics courses.

In 1945, students in the Bachelor of Arts degree program were still not required to take courses in mathematics, although they could take mathematics instead of courses in biological or physical science.

In 1945, twenty-four semester hours in mathematics courses numbered above 200 were required for a major in mathematics of which eight hours had to be in calculus and at least three hours had to be in courses numbered above 300. Students who “…[were] preparing for special vocations, such as teaching mathematics, actuarial and statistical positions…” were advised to “…consult the chairman of the department regarding the special courses in mathematics and in other fields that should be completed.” In 1944, Statistical Analysis by Dr. Clarence H. Richardson, Professor of Mathematics and Head of the mathematics department was “…chosen by the Army Institute as the book on statistics that [was] to be used.”

In addition to teaching courses required for a major in mathematics, staff in the mathematics department taught courses required for degrees in engineering, economics and commerce and finance, and the biological and physical sciences. Cadets enrolled in the V-12 program also had to take work in mathematics.

The Chemical Laboratory is slightly visible between the side porch and tree to its right. To the far right, adjacent to the path from the women's residence halls to the college quadrangle, one of the two pillars given by the Class of 1908, which marked the old College boundary next to Loomis Street, is clearly visible.

"fitted up" BT '82-'20, p. 313 (1/13/1916)

"dispensary service..." MBU '19-'31, p. 54

"Because of very close..." and the following paragraph, ib., p. 55

"...the Lewisburg health officer..." Theiss, p. 360

"...that 12 of the 17...", BT '20-'50, 6/10/1939, p. 1

"for entrance to the best..." and the other quotations in this sentence, CAT '37-'38, pp. 40-41

"The curiculum in biology may..." CAT '45-46, p. 46

"...a person whose pre-clinical education..." ib., p. 48

"For those students who present..." ib.

"On the coming of Dr. Larwson..." MBU '19-'31, p. 63

"[The Bachelor of Science Degree] differed..." ib., p. 64

"According to the records of the ..." ib., p. 68

"...eight semester hours of..."CAT '45-'46, p. 90

"Candidates for this degree..." ib., p. 58

"In order that only persons who..." ib., p. 89

"...organized for the purpose of..." and the other quotation in this sentence, ib., p. 95

"...that Bucknell is one of only five..." BT '20-'50, 6/10/1939, p. 2

"...based on the requirements for..." CAT '45-'46, p. 89

"With the advent of the new administration..." MBU '19-'31, p. 75

"Another radical radjustment of the ..." ib.

"...[were] preparing for special vocations..." CAT '45-'46, p. 131

"...chosen by the Army Institute as..." BT '20-'50, 6/24/1944, p. 2

The major source for the information on this page is the Minutes of the Board of Trustees of Bucknell University, 1920-1950 (BT '20-'50). Additional sources are Memorials of Bucknell University, 1919-1931 (MBU '19-'31); Oliphant, Rise of Bucknell; Theiss, Centennial History; "Directory of Faculty, Officers of Administration and Ship's Company of Bucknell University, November, 1945"; and the Catalogue of Bucknell University, Ninety-Second Year, 1937-1938, the Bucknell University Bulletin, Catalogue Issue, Ninety-Ninth Year, 1944-1945 (CAT '44-'45) and the Bucknell University Bulletin, Catalogue Issue, One Hundredth Year, January, 1946 (CAT '45-'46).