New Professorship Additions to English Staff Are Held Unlikely

Despite the fact that resignations or deaths have cost the English department six full professorships in the last few years, all of which have not been filled, no immediate additions are planned to the present staff of eight.

"Eight or nine full professorships has been the average figure over the last 15 years," declared Frederick G. White, Secretary of the Department of English and Secretary of the Division of Modern Languages. "In the middle thirties the number swelled, reaching its high-point of 11 during the 1937-38 academic year."

Professors Now Are Full-Time

In bumper years, however, a few of the Professors listed are invariably not full-time men and give possibly only one course in the field of English. The present eight full Professors, however, give all of their time to the department.

The most recent resignations have been those of John L. Lowes, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature, emeritus; Fred N. Robinson '91, Gurney Professor of English Literature, emeritus; and John T. Murray '99, Professor of English, emeritus. All of these resignations were tendered last June.

Chester N. Greenough, Professor of English, died in the spring of 1938, and Kirsopp Lake, Professor of History, resigned in 1937. Professor Lake is an example of a man giving only part time to the English department. George L. Kittredge '82, Gurney Professor of English Literature, emeritus, resigned in 1935.

Big Men Hard to Replace

It is all but impossible to find immediate replacements for men like Professor Kittredge, and it is difficult to single out certain men as replacing others directly. Nevertheless, John N. Bush, Professor of English, who was promoted in 1937, certainly relaces Professor Lowes in a scholarly sense. George W. Sherburn, Professor of English, appointed in 1939, assumes Professor Greenough's former position. Howard M. Jones, Professor of English and Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages, joined the English staff in 1935.

1937-38 marked the high-point for the number of full professorships in English, and this was caused by three promotions, all occurring at the same time. In that year, Professor Bush; Robert S. Hillyer '17, present Bolyston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory; and Francis P. Magoun '16, Professor of Comparative Literature, were all advanced.