The Grinnell
Scarlet & Black QC?

9/9/77
Grinnell College

Grinnell, Iowa
V0 85 No 2

Wall announces plan to resign

Leaves to get change
of scene in Albany

Career here was
long, distinguished

By Bob Mitchell

Professor of History Joseph F. Wall has an-
nounced that he plans to resign at the end of this
academic year to become chairman of the history
department at the State University of New York at
Albany.

Wall cited several reasons for his planned
resignation. One is that the teaching load will be
lighter at SUNY-Albany. This will give him more
time to work on his study of Alfred I. Du Font and
the Du Pont family, which he has been working on
ior the past several years. He also ieels the need to
work in an environment that is different from
Grinnell. SUNYrAlbany, with its enrollment of
13.6%, and its Sormember history department will
provide the change of scenery which he desires. In
addition, Wall pointed to Albany’s location, which is
near New York City, Boston and Montreal, as
another reason [or going there.

WALL'S resignation will mark the end of a
roughly 35-year relationship with the college that
began in 1938 when he entered the school as a fresh
man. His stay at Grinnell continued to the present,
interrupted only when he attended graduate school
and served in the navy. He joined the Grinnell
faculty in 1947 and became a full professor in 1957.
He currently holds both the Parker and Earl D.
Strong history chairs at the college.

Since 1947, Wall has served in a val‘let) of
positions here and has won widespread national
recognition ior his scholarship. Most recently. he
wrote the official Bicentennial history of the State of
lowa, a project which was funded by the American
Revolutionary Bicentennial Committee.

FROM 1959 to 1973. Wall served as Dean of the
College, His four years as Dean were characterized
by former college President Glenn Leggett as
“humane." ‘

“Wall brought to the deanship, . .a deep personal
and professional regard for students, and a com~
mitment to excellence in teaching,” Leggett said in
a 1973 statement.

Wall reached the pinnacle of his academic career
in 1971, when he won the Bancroft prize for his
biography oi Andrew Carnegie. The Bancroft prize
is thought to be the highest honor that can be
bestowed in the historical profession. Previous
winners include Samuel Eliot Morison, Allan
Nevins, Arthur Schlsinger Jr., and C. Vann
Woodward. In addition to this honor, Wall was in
ducted into the Society of American Historians and
was awarded the triennial Johnson Bringham
plaque by the Iowa Library Association for his work
on Carnegie.

THE BOOK itscll is a 1,150 page study of the great

industrial baron and philanthropist. Taking 12 years
to write, it utilizes material from the private

oholo by Chilé Lower

Prof. Joe Wall

menting. “It will be a great loss, not just to the
history department buttothe whole college. I would
say that he is genuinely irreplaceable in several
senses. We will be seeking approval to till the
vacancy which this has created and we obviously
hope to iind an able person. Mr. Wall’s experience
as a teacher, scholarship, and devotion to the
college means that it would be a long time before
anyone could fill his shoes.”

College President Richard Turner wished Wall
well in his new endeavors.

“PROFESSOR Wall has given many years of
distinguished service to Grinnell as a teacher-
scholar and in essential ways is inseparable from
the excellence that characterizes the college today.

“Wall’s resignation will mark the end of a. . .

relationship with the college that began in 1938

when he entered Grinnell as a freshman. ”

correspondence of Carnegie and his Wife as well as
data gleaned from early business records now in the
possession of United States Steel. Wall is the only
historian to have had access to this material.

In addition to his work as college dean, Wall also
sewed as chairman of the faculty from 1966 to 1969.
He was a visiting professor in American studies at
the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1934-55,
and was a recipientofa Fullbrightgrant for work at
the University of Edinburgh in 195758. His first
book was Henry Wattcrson: Reconstructed Rebel.
which appeared in 1956.

DON SMITH, chairman of the history department
here, reacted to Wall's announcement by come

His departure will be a significant loss to the
college, yet is quintessential Joe Wall in that it
symbolizes the desire and energy to try something
new and challenging which should characterize the
attitude of each of us. Iknow I speak for all of Joe‘s
colleagues, students and Grinnellians in thanking
him for work well done, and for wishing him and
Bea (Wall's wife) all good things' in their new ens
deavor,” he said.

Wall himself states that his decision to leave was
not an easy one.

“Itwas a hard decision to make. I did not make it
lightly or easily," he said.

By Bob Mitchell

Joseph F. Wall’s approximately 35»year
relationship with Grinnell can be characterized as
momentous in that it has seen tremendous changes
at the college as well as important academic
achievements by Wall himself.

Wall’s association with the school began in 1938,
when he entered Grinnell as an undergraduate.
Completing his tour years as a history major in
1941, he spent the next six years in graduate school
at Harvard andin the Navy. He returned to Grinnell
in 1947 as a member of the faculty, and, with the
exception of two years spent abroad, has remained
here for the entirety of his academic career These
years have been marked by many personal ac-
complishmenm, such as being named Parker
Professor of history in 1961, serving as chairman of
the faculty lrom 1966 to 1969 and dean of the college
from 1969 to 1973, and Winning national recognition
for his biography of Andrew Carnegie.

or ALL these endeavors, it was during his years
as dean of the college that he participated directly
in the events that would shape the college for the
future, At that time, the Grinnell campus was
consumed With the tumult produced by revulsion
with Vietnam and concern over the status 05
minorities in this country. Manifesting itself in
underground newspapers. commencement
speeches and building takeovers here. the student
movement proved to be a terribly crucial period in
American higher education.

As college dean, Wall found himself in a unique
position to both observe and react to the cone
troversy that had engulfed academia at that time.
He also iound himself torn by his sympathy for
many of the student aims and his desire to keep the
campus and curriculum free from disruption.

“l was basically very sympathetic to most oi the
studentpositions, but Ihad to try to keep the college
operating. But when I saw a iew days alter Kent
State that it was impossible to operate the college in
anything resembling a normal iashion, i ielt it
necessary to close the school," he said.

lcontinued on page a)

Freshmen here do
well on test scores

By Kenneth Johnston

Academic success defined both
in terms of high SAT scores and
good grades is a distinguishing
aspect oi this year’s freshman
class at Grinnell.

THIS FALL, 425 Students
enrolled here from all over the
country and abroad. Attending are
195 freshmen men, 154 freshmen
Women, 46 transfer men and 30
transfer women. Transfer students
have come mainly from large
universities or schools, the top
three being Iowa State University,
University oi Boston, and Mar-
shalltown Community College,
Also, in 1976 there were only two
international students, while this
year there are 13.

According to John R. Hopkins,
admissions director here at
Grinnell, students Set their own
criterion for admissmn. SAT
scores are not the sole basis for
acceptance at Grinnell. Many
prospective students with high SAT
scores were denied admission
because of low grades in high
school. Hopkins never ceased to
stress that SAT scores are not a
prediction for success at Grinnell,
particularly among black students.

RE‘CEVN‘TLi’. it has become

 

more difficult for colleges to decide
on admission of students because
of declining performances on the
SAT and the American College
Test (ACT).

average on these tests as low as
they are, what does this say about
incoming ireshmen here tor the
fall of 1977'?

Time magazine wrote recently
that the national SAT average for
the fall of 1977 on the verbal test
was 429 and 470 on the math. The
average SAT score for ireshmen
this year at Grinnell was 570 for the
verbal and 590 for the math. Thus,
Grinnell enrollees are ahead by 141
points on the verbal and 120 points
on the math section of the tests.

THIS YEAR, more freshmen
submitted ACT scores, mainly
because of the high level of com-
petition among collegebound high
school students. The composite
ACT average for Grinnell freshr
men was 26, while the norm
average {or the country was 19.
87.8 per cent of the freshmen
enrolled here this year were in the
top 40 per cent of their high school
graduating class.

Grinnell has received fine

' {continued on page 2t

 

