1927-1929 Introduction

Annual reports of the president from 1919 to 1927 were issued in bulletins in April and September, 1927. The present bulletin supplements these and brings the publication of the reports to June 30, 1929. The two bulletins previously issued contain a list of ultimate and proximate objectives, formulated and adopted at the beginning of this administration in 1919, and facts indicating progress made toward the attainment of these objectives. The reports for the two years included in the present bulletin continue the narrative of the efforts being made in the pursuit of these objectives.

During the two years, 1927-28 and 1928-29, there has been a decided increase in the activities of the institution, in the size of the staff, in the student enrolment, in the physical plant, and in the financial resources. More important than these, however, we trust that the qualitative phases have been emphasized and improved.

Serious attempts have been made to provide practical and effective orientation for the ever-increasing group of freshmen. Continued effort for the promotion of scholarship, through incentives and penalties, has produced gratifying results. Our cadet corps organization has been improved, and our military rating has continued to be excellent. More and more students have been assisted each year to finance their college attendance, although the demands for such assistance far exceed our ability to meet, with our present scholarships, loan funds and part-time employment.

There have been a number of losses by death of members of the staff, and these have been keenly felt. Other losses have come through resignations, largely due to the inability of the institution to meet offers of compensation received from other sources. Many new members have joined our staff by reason of these losses and also because of additional departments and the expansion of the work of old departments. New departments include: architectural engineering, ceramic engineering, wood technology, publications, and industrial surveys. A full-time dean of engineering, and a full-time health officer, have been secured. Other important additions to the staff have been made in agricultural engineering, physical education, and landscape design. Formal faculty standards have been adopted, complying with the standards of accrediting agencies and the practises of the leading institutions of the country. Leaves of absence have been granted to a number of members of the staff for graduate study and research at other institutions; and greater provision has been made for attendance upon meetings of professional and technical organizations, for gaining information at first-hand in certain important industries, etc.

Our summer activities have grown considerably, so that the campus is the assembly place for many groups throughout the summer months, and the attendance in the classes is also increasing. During the winter we have been conducting successfully certain agricultural short courses, and these are being developed as opportunity affords.

Attention is called to the references in these reports to the increasingly important work of the engineering experiment station and the engineering extension division. This comparatively new service is meaning more and more to the communities and industrial interests of our state each year.

It is gratifying to note the gift to the college of additional scholarships and loan funds, which are so badly needed to meet the ever-increasing calls for financial assistance to students. There is, of course, still great need for additional aids of this sort, and it is hoped that our friends will be prompt to respond. The college library has been substantially augmented by the addition of the collections received from Professor William B. Alwood and the family of the late Professor Theo. P. Campbell.

Careful financial management of the institution in all of its departments and divisions has been continued, and we have lived strictly within our resources. We are proud of the fact that we have not been called upon to report any deficit during the past ten years -- we simply do without expenditures unless there are funds in hand to meet them. In the period covered by these reports there has, fortunately, been a substantial increase in the appropriations for operation. In addition to state increases, we have received new funds from the passage of the Capper-Ketcham Act of Congress for the promotion of our agricultural and home economics extension service.

Larger direct appropriations from the state for capital outlay, together with the comparatively large amount we have been able to use in this two-year period under the Noell plan, have provided for a considerable increase in the valuation of the physical plant.

As stated in the reports, our spacious drill and recreation field has been completed, our large new sewage disposal plant has been put into operation, Patton engineering hall has been finished and occupied, the old science hall has been transformed into a good dormitory, and a handsome stone dormitory has been completed (except the top floor) for early occupancy. Academic building No. 1 and the main dairy barn have been remodelled; water, sewer, electric, and heating lines have been considerably extended; much work has been done on roads, walks, planting and landscaping, including a decided change in the main entrance to the campus; and sixty-seven acres of additional land have been acquired and paid for during this period.

Extended reference is made in these reports to the report of the Virginia Education Commission, especially to the findings and recommendations of the staff of educational experts employed by the commission to conduct the survey of education in the state. These deserve our serious consideration, and undoubtedly most of the recommendations of the survey staff relating to this institution should be followed as quickly as possible.

The growing interest of our alumni and the substantial manifestation of their devotion to the institution have been the source of very great encouragement. This is chiefly due to the extraordinarily high type of men composing the board of directors of the alumni association. These splendid men, occupying outstanding positions in the business and industrial world, have given liberally of their time and means in the promotion of our interests. Among other things they sponsored a special reunion of alumni at finals in 1929, gracionsly designating this in recognition of the end of a decade of the present administration of the college.

In closing the ten-year period during which it has been my privilege to serve this institution, I must be permitted to express my profound gratitude to the Governors, the members of the General Assembly, the members of our Board of Visitors, our alumni, our students and their parents, my colleagues in the faculty and all connected with the institution, and the large number of other friends and supporters, who have made it possible to accomplish whatever has been brought about during this eventful time. A fine spirit of cooperation and efficient service has characterized these relationships. We, therefore, thank God and take courage for the future, in the faith that our efforts, so long as they may continue to be rightly directed, will be crowned with even greater achievement in the development of the inestimably valuable human and natural resources of our beloved state.

Julian A. Burruss, President.
Blacksburg, Virginia, June 30, 1929.

The reports of the Director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, and the reports of the Director of the Extension Division of Agriculture and Home Economics, are published separately.