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When Longden finally retired in 1935 at the age of 75, the office of Rector secretary fell to G. Herbert Smith, who also served as dean of freshman men. To assist the admissions process, recent DePauw graduate Robert H. Farber became the first field representative, visiting Indiana high schools to interview students interested in attending the university. The dual post of director of publicity and alumni secretary was created in 1931, with F. Russell Alexander named to that office. Five years later Alexander issued the first number of the DePauw Alumnus, the glossy-page successor to the earlier Alumni News.
 

When the long-time treasurer, Salem B. Town, stepped down in 1929, his assistant, Harold E. Robbins took his place. Fund raising came under the jurisdiction of Byron H. Wilson, executive secretary of endowments and promotion. In 1930 Ralph E. Schenck, a civil engineer who had supervised the building of much of the physical plant in recent years while in the employ of an Indianapolis construction firm, was appointed superintendent of engineering, construction, and maintenance.

It was not until near the end of his administration, however, that President Oxnam was able to persuade the trustees to authorize the centralization of all business affairs in the new post of comptroller. Named to this office in 1935 was Superintendent Schenck, who proceeded to concentrate in it all matters relating to finances, purchasing, real estate, and the physical plant. Ernest H. Smith became the first chief accountant.

A major concern of the Oxnam administration was to strengthen the operations of the library, which did not come up to the standards of institutions with which DePauw liked to compare itself. Until 1931 the titular librarian was Professor Francis J. Tilden of the comparative literature department, who left most of the work of supervising the library in the hands of an assistant, Margaret Gilmore. In that year Vera Southwick Cooper became the first professionally trained librarian to serve the university. She was soon able to increase the book budget and engage additional library staff, though the limitations of physical space in the Carnegie building prevented the enlargement of resources needed to meet the desired standards fully.

In 1932 the School of Music was completely restructured and integrated into the university. It had previously been operated more or less autonomously under the direction of Dean Robert McCutcheon. He rented facilities from DePauw and managed the school's affairs personally - collecting student fees, employing faculty, and even providing musical instruments and equipment. Now the instructional staff became regular salaried members of the faculty for the first time. Moreover, a music major and minor were accepted as part of the liberal arts degree program, while the bachelor of music program was continued in force.

The residential graduate program that had existed in name since 1884 was expanded and reorganized. Several departments offered graduate work leading to a master of arts degree, and in 1931 the School of Music announced the establishment of a master of music degree. In 1934 the president appointed a graduate council to oversee the graduate program, headed by Professor William E. Edington of the mathematics department. Graduate enrollments at DePauw grew slightly but remained only a small fraction of the total and never threatened the university's basic commitment to undergraduate education.

______________________________
One of the traditions at DePauw was inviting
the student mothers to campus on May Day
and the fathers on Dads' Day.  Usually they
formed living unit clubs of particular financial
importance in enhancing the living condition.
Here are the charter members of the Phi Kappa
Psi Mothers Club in 1929.  In the center of the
first row is Mrs. H. A. Gobin, widow of a
former president.
________________________________
 

In an endeavor to encourage high scholarship, the university in 1931 revived an honors program that had flourished in the last decades of the 19th century. Various departments offered honors work in this period, eventually including history, economics, sociology, political science, psychology, and education. Students accepted for this program spent much of their junior and senior year in independent study under the direction of one or more members of the faculty in their major field. A preliminary examination was given at the end of the junior year, followed by both oral and written comprehensive examinations in the senior year. Each successful candidate for honors also submitted an extensive research paper in some field of specialization.

President Oxnam's recommendation to the faculty in 1932 that all students be required to pass a comprehensive examination was not acted upon at this time. The only major change in graduation requirements adopted by the faculty was to add six hours in philosophy or religion, a partial reversion to the role of those subjects in the former prescribed curriculum that dated back to the founding of the university.


A few significant changes took place in the organization of the liberal arts curriculum. In 1928 botany and zoology, which had been merged from time to time into a department of biology, regained independent departmental status. The department of public speaking was renamed the speech department in 1929. Taking up new quarters in Speech Hall (the former College Avenue Methodist Church), the department was able to expand its work in both forensics and Little Theatre.

An interesting development was the formation of a separate women's debating team which took part in intercollegiate competition along with the men's team. Upon the death of Professor Adelbert F. Caldwell in 1931, his department of English literature was merged into the department of English-formerly called English composition and rhetoric-under the headship of Raymond W. Pence. In 1934 an art department was created. It absorbed the courses in art history taught by Professor of Greek Rufus Stephenson, and expanded the studio work carried on by the School of Music since the demise of the art school in 1913.
In seeking increased administrative centralization of the university President Oxnam undertook a complete reorganization of the faculty and departmental structure. As early as January 1930 he began grouping all departments into six divisions under chairmen appointed by him. The latter were to preside over fortnightly meetings of the faculty within each division. Together with the president, vice president, and the dean of the university, they constituted an educational policy committee.

General faculty meetings, held once a month under President Murlin, were to be convened only upon call. The six divisions with their first chairmen were as follows: Classical and Modern Languages (Edwin Post); English, Speech, and Fine Arts (Raymond W. Pence); Sciences (Orrin H. Smith); Social Sciences (W. Wallace Carson);Education, Philosophy, and Religion (Walter E. Bundy); and Physical Education (William L. Hughes).

In the fall of 1930 a committee from the Commission on Survey of Educational Institutions of the Methodist Church visited the campus and submitted an elaborate report that endorsed the notion that divisions rather than departments be made the administrative units of the university. Thus encouraged in his vision of a more efficient and centralized system of operations, the president in May 1933 announced the abolition of the departmental structure altogether. Department heads were also eliminated, their functions being assumed by the division chairmen.

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