Doctor of Laws Samuel Paul Capen *
John Roy Steelman Fi·ancis Trow Spaulding
Presentation of SAMUEL PA UL CAPEN for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by Dean M. Ellis Drake.
Mr. President: It is an honor for me. to present our special Founders' Day guest and speaker for an honorary degree from Alfred University.
Doctor Capen was born in the neighboring state of Massachusetts and was educated- in its schools. · Having received bachelors' and
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. .masters' degrees from Tufts, College, where his father was onetime President, he went on to Harvard for a master's degree and to the University of Pennsylvania for a doctor· of philosophy degree. He also studied at the University of Leipsig. His professional career has been marked by ac.hievement and a .constant succession of honors. For close to a quarter of a century he. has been the Chancellor of the
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versity of Buffalo where he haE! served with distin~tion. · He has gained \ .
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general recognition in this country as an unusually able college ad- ministrator and leader in the field of higher education. His profes- sional record includes service as Associate Director of the Regents Inquiry into the Character and Cost of Public Education in New York State; membership' for many years on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, of which b'oard he is now the vice-chairman; the onetime chairmanship of t~e Ameri- can CouncH on Education; the presidency of the Association of Urban UrHver,sities and that of the Association of Colleges and Universities of the State of New York; permanent ·membership on the Board of Trustees of Tufts College and service. as trustee of Bennington Col- lege. He has participated in many •surveys of colleges and univer- sities and State ed1;1cational systems. :· Numerous educaUonal reports, papers and articles have come from hiff pen. Honorary degrees have been conferred on him by ,many colleges and· universities.
It is with real pleasure, Mr. Pr·esident, that I present for the honorary degree of Doctor of La~s .this. distinguis.hed American Edu- cator, Samuel Paul Capen.
Citation by the President:
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Conferred Founders' Day, November· 7, 1946'
~AMUEL PAUL CAPEN, son of Tufts, Harvard and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, honored by many colleges and universities; teach- er of modern Janguages; outstanding and examplary university admin- istrator; in~pirer of confidence in the future of universities;- personi- fication of good leadership in things intellectual and professional;
extraordinary combination of dignity and humanism; sponsor of. all human freedoms, especially academic freedom, freedom of choice -of courses; and, .believer that sane but .courageous exp_erimentation .is the law of educational progress:
By au.thority of the Board of Trustees of. Alfred University, I con- fer upon you, .Samuel ·Paul Capen, the .degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris caiisa,, ii'\ this University, and admit you to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities. In. token thereof,. I presel'.lt you with this diploma, and cause .you to be invested with the hood bf this degree.
, Presentation of JOHN ROY STEELMAN for the Honorary De- gree of Doctor of Laws by Dean M. Ellis Drake.
Mr. President: It is an honor for me to present to ·you, for the conferring of an honorary degree, our ·distinguished guest, John Roy Steelman.
Mr: Steelman is a· native of Arkansas and obtained his early edu- cation in the public schools of that · state. .After graduating from Henderson-Brown. College with a ·bacheior's •degree ... he did graduate work in sociology and social ethics at Vanderbilt University where he received the master;s and· bachelor of theology degrees. He continued his graduate studies on fellowships at Harvard and the University of North Carolina and received the Ph.D.· degree from the latter insti- tution. He taught sociology and economics for several years at Ala- bama College where his interest in labor-relations attracted the at- tention of the then Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. She per- suaded him to join the staff of tlie Conciliation Service of the De- partment of Labor as a· roving commissioner and in this capacity he played an . important rofo in the settlement of :inany labor-manage- ment .disputes.
His advancement in government· service was rapid. After serving for a time as Special 4ssistant to the Secretary of Labor he was ap- pointed Director of the United States Conciliation Service.. Under his direction the Conciliation Service became an important agency in the maintenance of harmonious labor-management relations throughout . · the United States.
In October. 1945 he was appointed as Special Assistant to the President of the United States. In June 1946 he was made the .Director
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164 / ALFRED YEAR BOOK, 1946-47
of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion and a month later was also appointed Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization.
In December of 1946 he was named by President Truman, 41:1sistant to the President of the United States. In this capacity Mr. Steelman has the responsibility for assisting the President in the co-ordination of Federal Agency programs and policies and in coordinating the work of Presidential boards and c01hmissions. At· present he is serving as Chairman of the President's Scientific· Research Board and as liaison officer between the executive agencies and the President's Commission on Higher Education; He consults daily with the President on matters affecting· the national welfare and in effect serves as the President's Chief of Staff on the do~estic front.
It is
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pleasure, Mr. President, for me to present this. distinguished public ·servant for the honorary de'gree. of Doctor of Laws· in Alfred University.Citation by the President:
JOHN ROY STEELMAN, son of the South, student at Henderson;
Brorn College; .Vanderbilt Uniyersity; Harvard; and the University' of North Carolina -from which .you. received the Ph.D; degree;. teacher of Sociology and Economics at Alabama College; master conciliator of Labor-Management di!3putes of the Unite<),· States Conciliation Ser- vice; regulator of economic conditions in this country; and Co-ordi- , nator of Federal Agency programs a'nd polfcie~
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the Assistant to thePresident of the~United States-by authority of the Trustees 'of Al- fred Universit;, I confer upon you, Joh,n Roy Steelman, the degree of Doctor' of Laws, honoris ca;,~a. in this University, and admit you to all o·f its rights, privileges and responsibilities. In token· thereof I present you with this dipl<>ma ~ild cause you to be invested with the ho,~d of this degree.
Presentation of .FRANCIS TRo'w SPAULDING for the Honorary Degree of Doctor o·f LaWs · by Dean· S. ~. sCholes. · ·' .·
Mr. President: It is my privilege to name for an honorary degree the head of the greate$t educational;' establishment. in America. He was chosen because, of llis .. quality. as, a. man, the breadtll and. depth of his preparation, and. hisrachievements as an educator and, adminis-.
trator. '
After his grilduation f:i'bm Harvard in 1916; he began teaching- in Minnesota. He served in the first World War, then restuned' his work, filling with distinction. teaching- and administrative· positions in New York State and elsewhere. -Meanwhile; he obtained the Master
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HONORARY DEGREES 165
of Arts degree from Harvard, 1921, Master of Education from Co- lumbia, 1926, and Doctor of Education from Harvard in the same year.
Dr. Spaulding joined the faculty ~f· the Harv~rd ·Graduate School of Education and rose steadily through the professorial ranks, becom- ing Dean of the Scp.ool in 1940. · It was during this period that he wrote, as head of the New York Regents' Inquiry on Secondary Edu- cation, his comprehensiv.e report which became a classic ln educational literature. His work· a1:1 author and ~ditor has brought his renown among all who teach.
On leave of absence from Harvard, he entered military service again in 1942, as 'Chief of Army Education, with the rank of QoJonel.
The Regents of the\ University of the State of New Yorlc unanimously called him to his present position in 1946.
Illustrious men have occupied this important post. before him, but none has excelled Commissioner Spaulding in wealth of experi- ence and comprehensi',fe grasp of all the problems of this field. His books and reports, like the masterly address which we have· heard this afternoon, are strong testimonies of· his .Jalue · to the educational
effort in our State and in our Nation. /
Because of the attainments of this man, I feel sure, Mr. President, that Alfred University will honor itself in conferrilig the degree of Doctor of Laws upon Francis Trow Spaulding.
Oitation · by the President:
FRANCIS TROW SPAULDING, son of Harvard University, and Columbia, an,d honored by universities; great teacher of education, and recent Dean of Harvard; author, and President of the University of the State of New York-by authority of the Trustees of Alfred University, I confer upon you, Francis Trow Spaulding, the degree .of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, in this University, and admit· you to all of its rights, privileges, and, responsibilities. In token thereof I present you with this diploma! and cause you to be invested with the hood of this degree.
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