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LEWIS INSTITUTE |
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By Agness Joslyn Kaufman |
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| In 1917, because of a
growing demand for more college work, the general degree of Bachelor of
Science was added to the Engineering and Home Economics degrees. Then the
evening session courses were offered on the college level, the Academy was
discontinued, and the Institute emerged from World War I as a four-year
college on the lists of the North Central Association. Probably the most outstanding feature of Lewis Institute was the administration under the leadership of Director Carman, who was generally acclaimed one of the leading educators of his day, and who remained at the helm for forty years. It was his custom to register and consult with each student personally in the day school, and with as many as he could in the evening school. He lived for the Institute, and after the death of his wife in 1916 he made it his day and night work, seven days a week and he had no other interests. It is said that he did the most outstanding piece of personnel work that has ever been accomplished in an American college. The tenure of the faculty who served under him was long, for the men and women who taught at Lewis believed in the purpose of the school and were willing to devote their lives to teaching at the Institute. That the Institute served the purpose for which it was founded can scarcely be doubted. During the first ten years of its existence, the attendance in the day and evening sessions amounted to about 10,000 individuals. From that time on, as the desire for education grew among young people, the numbers mounted rapidly, and in 1940 more than 100,000 students had attended the Institute from one term to twenty years - a record made by a student in the evening session. I cannot conclude without this observation - I have never known anyone who had a real and honorable part in this educational venture known as Lewis Institute, either as a student or as a member of the faculty or of the basement staff who did not gain something fine from the contact, or who did not contribute something in the way of loyalty or devotion that was beyond price. |
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| Page last updated on May 17, 2000. |
