The Faculty
FACETS OF DARTMOUTH EDUCATION: One of the valuable undertakings in the senior year for most Dartmouth students is work in seminars. These are small classes, limited in number to ten or twelve men, designed to give students training and experience in doing original research within the scope of a carefully defined aspect of their major. They do not seek to approximate the graduate level of instruction and study, yet most departments want to expose the seniors, many of whom will be going on to graduate school, to the problems, the methods, and the excitement of research.
An interesting example of such a seminar is "Selected Problems in Civil-Military Relations" offered this year for the first time by two professors in the Government Department. The seminar has grown out of a long-range research project at which Professors John Masland and Laurence Radway have been actively engaged for a number of years, an exploration of the education of the professional military man for a career which is making increasingly great demands on him.
The importance of the problems with which the seminar is concerned is considerable; for, as Professors Masland and Radway point out, "the responsibilities of the United States as a great power, coupled with rapid and far-reaching technological developments and the changing role of force in international politics, have greatly altered the impact of military affairs upon American society and politics. For the first time in our national history we are compelled to maintain a high level of military 'readiness' in peacetime. The armed forces, moreover, are called upon to exercise a wide range of responsibilities far beyond their traditional military functions. Military officers find themselves involved in the formulation of national policies not only on military questions but on such other matters as diplomatic policies, foreign economic policies, fiscal affairs, scientific research and development, public information and so on. At the same time, partly as a result of the constitutional provisions, for civilian control of the military, but also as a result of the complex and varied nature of security problems today, civilian officials find; themselves involved in the making of decisions bearing directly upon military planning and operations.
"The seminar is concerned with the broad zone in which military and civilian affairs overlap and in which military and civilian officers share responsibility for the formulation of policy."
The students take the point of view of a civilian administrator or legislator in their consideration of problems of the kind that are encountered by members of the House and Senate Armed Forces Committees and other members of Congress, by civilian officials in the Department of Defense, and even by the President and his advisers in the National Security Council. During the early part of the semester the students will read widely in background material relating to three areas:- the dimensions of military affairs, strategic concepts and foreign policy, and organization for security policies formulation. Officers from the three services will occasionally be guests of the seminar to present the point of view of their particular branch of service. In addition to reading background material students are expected to keep themselves informed on current issues relating to the broad field under study and to report periodically on current developments.
Individual research begins after the men have become well acquainted with the dimensions of the problems in civilmilitary relations, when each man selects a topic for his individual report. The reports are delivered orally to: the seminar and afterward in written form. The men will work with the raw materials of research, reports of Congressional hearings, the United States budget for 1956-57, and other primary documents. As a joint undertaking of students and teachers the seminar should prove to be a rich educational experience.
PROFESSOR of Psychology Robert M. Bear is President-elect of the New Hampshire Psychological Association. He is now serving as program chairman of the organization and will continue in that capacity until he assumes the presidency in May.
PROFESSOR John Masland, chairman of the Government Department, has recently been elected a trustee of the American Military Institute, a private organization with headquarters in Washington, concerned with the study of military affairs. The organization works in conjunction with the American Historical Society.
EDWARD C. LATHEM '51, Director of the Division of Special Collections of the Library, was elected in January to the board of trustees of the New Hampshire Historical Society. Holding degrees from both Dartmouth and Columbia, Mr. Lathem is also a graduate of the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute in Historical and Archival Management and of the American University's Institute on the Preservation and Administration of Archives.
DR. JAMES F. Ross, Instructor in Religion, gave two lectures recently at the White Church in Hanover on "The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Unlocking of Their Meaning." The discovery of the scrolls by a shepherd in a cave near Palestine in 1947 has proved to be one of the most exciting archeological and Biblical events in recent generations. Dr. Ross was a staff member of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem in 1953-54.
Three faculty timers at the Carnival slalom were (l to r) Douglas M. Bowen, Prolessor of Chemistry; James A. Browning '44 and Edwin A. Sherrard, both Professors of Engineering at Thayer School; shown with Virgil E. Poling, director of the Student Workshop; Charles L. Bradford '58; and Philip D. Robertson '37, who were also officials.
