Collection inventory

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Syracuse University Student Dean Program Collection

An inventory of the program's collection at the Syracuse University Archives

Sponsor: The processing of this collection was made possible through the generosity of Marion W. Meyer G'55.

Finding aid created by: Amanda Galvin
Date: 2005

Revision history:

Historical Note

The Syracuse Student Dean Program, the nationally-recognized graduate program in student personnel at Syracuse University, was originally conceived by Iva Lowther Peters, Class of 1901, Dean of Women from 1926 to1931. Recognizing the need to “enrich and personalize” the lives of undergraduate women, Dean Peters developed a head resident system through which women graduate students were assigned as counselors to undergraduate women housed in campus residences. Eugenie Andruss Leonard, who succeeded Peters as Dean of Women (1931-1935), implemented this system and is recognized today as the founder of what became the Syracuse University Student Dean Program.

During her first year as Dean of Women, Leonard established the Student Dean Program under student personnel, a formal academic course of studies in the Teacher's College. Women graduate students serving as resident advisors would be known as “Student Deans” and received practical training while completing required coursework. In 1931, in response to Chancellor Charles Flint’s support, the University Board of Trustees established the first 12 graduate assistantships for women master’s degree candidates in student personnel. That September, 12 female graduates arrived in Syracuse to assume their assistantships and enroll in the first Student Dean class. They were to live in campus housing with undergraduate women and assume work assignments in the Office of the Dean of Women as they pursued their courses of study. Within the first few years, it was determined that the program should be extended to two years.

Among the members of the first class of Student Deans was the energetic and enthusiastic Martha Eunice Hilton, who came to Syracuse to pursue her doctorate degree. She was an exception to the norm, for she had already earned her master’s degree in education at the University of Nebraska and had served as Dean of Women at McCook Junior College in Lincoln. Upon completion of her dissertation in 1934, she became the first woman to earn her PhD in Syracuse University’s School of Education.

Syracuse University’s Student Dean Program became practically synonymous with Dean M. Eunice Hilton. She was Dean of Women from 1936 until 1949. When Dean Leonard left the University in 1935, Dean Hilton also became the Director of the Student Dean Program with faculty rank in the School of Education. It was under her tutelage that the Student Dean Program earned its national recognition.

In her first year as Dean of Women, Hilton appointed Marjorie C. Smith as Assistant Dean and Director of Housing for Women. When Dean Hilton moved on in 1949 to become Dean of the College of Home Economics, Marjorie Smith became the Dean of Women. As a team, Hilton and Smith shared common philosophical interests, complimented one another in their methods of managing and directing the program, and made a lasting impact on the lives of the Student Deans who studied with them.

Dean Hilton remained the Director of the Student Dean Program through the fall of 1958 when she served as a visiting professor at Columbia Teachers College. She left the University in the spring of 1959. In 1968, Syracuse University awarded Hilton an honorary degree in part because “no one in our time has contributed so much to student personnel administration.”

Ellen Peterson Fairchild ’39 and Marjorie Smith became Co-Directors of the Student Dean Program in 1959. When Betty Cosby ’49 was appointed Director of the Graduate Program in Student Personnel in 1963, the evolution of student life and social mores resulted in other changes. As such, the Student Dean Program ceased to exist. Under Dr. Cosby, the graduate program became coeducational, and graduate assistantships were available for both men and women who were no longer required to live in campus housing.

However, during its heyday, the Syracuse program was a model for other developing student personnel programs. The program was intended to bring in women from different backgrounds. On average, twenty students were accepted for each class, about half of whom were immediate graduates of an undergraduate degree program. The remaining women usually went immediately into the work force in a variety of areas after earning their undergraduate degrees. The Student Dean spent about half of her time on her course of study and the other half in her residence hall or on an assignment in the Dean of Women’s Office.

According to former SU Vice President and Dean of Men Frank Piskor, the Student Dean Program at Syracuse University was the first program at Syracuse to bring national visibility to the University. It was also the first program of its kind in the country to require residency work.

Requirements for selection for participation in the program, described in the "Conference Program for the Tenth Year Celebration" in 1941, stated, “Graduation from an accredited college or university, high academic record, evidence of keen interest and some experience in the personnel field, an adequate reference regarding personal character and ability to handle people. No prerequisites in terms of undergraduate courses were required or suggested. Applicants between twenty-three and thirty-five years of age were given preference.” The program required 16 hours of courses in student personnel Work and 24 course hours in the academic field.

Dean Hilton brought national figures, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mead, and Lillian Gilbreth, to Syracuse for programs and meetings with Student Deans. She developed a network of women who had been students in the program, moved on to positions on campuses across the country and became contacts for new graduates as they entered the field. The program also had a reputation on campus with individuals such as Chancellor William Tolley, who always recognized a Student Dean, and Dean Harry Ganders, with whom Student Deans were required to take a course. At conventions, when it was learned that someone being interviewed for a position was one of “Hilton’s Girls,” she was assured of being accepted for a position as a dean of women or a director of residence halls.

Two graduates of the program remained in positions at Syracuse until their retirement: Jean Crawford ’56, who retired as Director of Residence at South Campus, and Marion Waterman Meyer ’55, who retired as Assistant Dean in the School of Management.

The last Student Dean class was the Class of 1963. Although student personnel continues to be taught in the Higher Education Department, the Student Dean Program ceased to exist at this time. The impact of the program and of the Student Dean experience, however, is still very much alive.

In the fall of 1987, a plan was developed to hold a Student Dean reunion in 1991 to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the program. For many years, the University had not maintained regular contact with holders of advanced degrees. Records could not be found that identified Student Deans. An article about the program, which appeared in the January 1988 issue of The Education Exchange brought responses from Student Deans all across the country as well as internationally. Some respondents sent addresses of others; some sent entire class lists. The original list of fifty contacts grew until, a year before the reunion, it included five hundred active addresses.

News of a Student Dean reunion was received with eagerness, excitement, and enthusiasm, as Student Deans wrote in about the program’s impact on their lives. They expressed their appreciation for the extremely meaningful and memorable experience it had been and their gratitude for the quality of the training, the preparation for their careers, and the support received from Dean Hilton and members of her staff.

In the year 2006, another reunion was held to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Student Dean Program. The devotion, loyalty, and appreciation for the Student Dean experience proved to be very much alive and the reunion was a success. Though many Student Deans had passed away by this point and many were no longer able to travel, the responses that arrived continued to reflect the impact that experience had, not only on their lives, but also on the lives of others they touched.

Scope and Content Note

The Syracuse University Student Dean Program Collection contains materials from the official beginning of the program in 1931 to the 2006 reunion; the bulk of the material is from the time of the program, 1931 to 1963. The collection has been broken down into 18 series:

The Subject Files series makes up the bulk of the collection, covering a variety of topics such as academic requirements, student enrollment, placement, assistantships, careers, tests and evaluations, faculty, publicity, and information regarding several professional organizations, including the New York State Association of Deans and Pi Lambda Theta.

The Higher Education series consists of course materials such as syllabi and tests. More academic work is contained in the Abstracts and Case Studies series. Several volumes of the annual Guide to Guidance, a yearly publication released by a committee of Student Deans, and its supplementary material make up another series. Conference session information can be found in the AAHE (American Association for Higher Education) Program Files series. Information from the Dean's Course, the summer Workshops, Newsletters from the program, and class Rosters are also in the collection.

Because the Student Dean Program focused on training students, there is also a good deal of information on individuals who participated in the program. The Biographical Materials series contains records of what graduates did after attending Syracuse, such as jobs, marriages, and relocations. There are also individual files for Student Deans who got in contact with reunion organizer Marion Meyer G'55 later in life; the files are organized alphabetically followed by the years the student attended the University. These files contain correspondence, articles, and updates. There is also a series devoted to the Student Dean Program Faculty.

Although the Student Dean Program ceased to exist in its original form in 1963, its alumni reunited for major anniversaries. The Reunion series consists of correspondence, written information, programs from various events, and even a large number of videos from the 1991 celebrations. Newsletters called Updates, which focused on reunion planning, and Questionnaires from the reunions are also included.

Alumni and friends of Syracuse University’s Student Dean Program established a memorial scholarship in honor of Dean M. Eunice Hilton, with an annual scholarship award granted to a female graduate student in the Higher Education Program concentrating in student affairs. The award, given out until 2009, went to a student who exhibited both academic proficiency and commitment to student affairs. The Hilton Scholarship Fund series contains correspondence and information on the individual scholars.

The Student Dean Program Collection also contains two series called History and Scrapbooks. The items in these series include information and objects that tell the story of the program and the lives of the women who participated, such as newspaper clippings, pamphlets and booklets, memorabilia and photographs.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

The University Archives also holds a file in the Photograph Collection for the Student Dean Program, a clipping file for the Dean of Women, and more information on the higher education program in the School of Education Collection. Additionally, the Papers of M. Eunice Hilton, Dean of Women (1936 - 1949) and director of the Student Dean Program (1935 - 1958) is available upon request.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Dewey, Mary E.
Fisher, Marguerite J.
Hilton, Martha Eunice, 1899-
Leonard, Eugenie Andruss, 1888-1980.
National Association of Deans of Women (U.S.)
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.
Syracuse University. -- School of Education.
Syracuse University. -- Student Dean Program.

Subjects

Deans of women.
Education -- Administration.
Reunions, Class.
Vocational training.
College teachers.
Higher education.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Syracuse University Student Dean Program Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

The Student Dean Program Collection began with a donation of a single box of materials in the early 1970s, followed by nine more boxes in 1975. The School of Education donated these early items, including academic material such as the class syllabi and rosters, workshop information, and the Dean's Course information.

Later materials concerning individual Student Deans and the information regarding the reunions as well as information from the later years of the program were added by Marion W. Meyer, a graduate of the program (1955), an assistant dean in Syracuse University's School of Management, the main organizer and contact for the reunions, and a strong advocate of the program's legacy. Her additions in the 1990s greatly added to the depth of the collection. The last addition to the collection was recorded in 2007.

Processing Information

In 2004, as plans were beginning to come together for the 75th anniversary of the Student Dean Program, funds were given to the University Archives to put towards preserving the Student Dean Collection. In 2006, the whole collection was re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes, and an inventory was prepared. This inventory was converted to EAD in 2013.

Table of Contents

Program Files

Abstracts and Case Studies

Subject Files

Dean's Course

Higher Education

Workshops

Guide to Guidance

Newsletters

Updates

Biographical Material (Post Graduation Placement)

Questionnaire

Roster Files

Student Deans

Student Dean Faculty

Hilton Scholarship Fund

Reunions

Scrapbooks

History

Inventory