Chapter VI.-The Staff

Only such members of the staff as are devoting all or most of their time to teaching are included, as research and extension work are not covered by this section of the survey. In some cases the information furnished in the reports was quite incomplete and it was necessary to search many other records in order to secure the desired information. If any injustice is done, it is entirely unintentional and because exact information was not supplied.

The faculty is probably the most difficult subject of the entire report to discuss, first, because it becomes more or less a matter of personality, and, second, because the varying characteristics of faculty members and their abilities as teachers are difficult to evaluate and almost impossible to compare. Table 15 shows the number of men assigned to the various subject groups and the variation in the 11 institutions in the United States. The deans are represented by footnote 1, because in most institutions there is considerable administrative work connected with that position, which interferes considerably with the regular work of instruction.

TABLE 15.-Distribution of faculty among various subject groups

TABLE 15.-Distribution of faculty among various subject groups-Continued

In the faculty, as in the course of study, there is a wide range of conditions. It will be noted that there is a total ranging from 5 to 17 veterinarians of the grade of instructor or above on the strictly teaching staff of the veterinary faculties. For this summary only those members of the staff of the rank of instructor or above who would probably come in contact with students in teaching or educational work were included. According to the records there are 17 persons of the rank of instructor or above engaged in the teaching of anatomical subjects, 14 in physiology, 35 in pathology, 161⁄2 in surgery, and 20 in medicine. In some institutions the work is not divided into departments, the college as a whole operating as a single department. This would have some influence on the ranking of the men in charge of major subjects, but a study of the table will show that the ranks vary from assistant professor to full professor and head in the various subject groups of the 11 veterinary colleges. few cases are also found in which staff members divide their time between two major subject groups. This may serve as a temporary arrangement, but rapid development of the field of medicine during the past quarter century has made it impossible for one man to master more than one major subject. It is highly desirable that each member of the staff devote his energy to a single major group. Even

A

then it will probably be necessary to restrict his efforts to some limited phase of the whole subject.

There is little justification for an extended course of study or increased entrance requirements until faculties are brought up to a high degree of efficiency, both as to training and teaching ability. It would be a useless expenditure of time and money, as well as an educational disaster, to require two years of college training for entrance on the part of students and then require them to sit before a professor who is neither a master of his technical subject nor a scholar from an educational viewpoint. In other words, increased entrance requirements must bring increased efficiency on the part of the faculty if satisfactory progress is to be made. Some of the leading veterinary colleges have faculties of very high character. Others can not hope to obtain men of the caliber required nor can they be retained when the rank of assistant or associate professor is the best the institution can offer. It will be noted that some of the faculties have only one or two full professors on the entire staff. In anatomy, for example, there are only 7 professors in 11 veterinary colleges. In physiology there are only 51⁄2 professors in 11 veterinary colleges.

There has been a decided tendency on the part of some institutions to employ only graduates of their own institutions. In one case every staff member, except an assistant, is a graduate of the institution in which he is serving. It is also apparent that some institutions place no value whatever on graduate work subsequent to receiving the baccalaureate degree. One institution indicated that absolutely no graduate work on the part of any member of the entire staff was permitted. The table summarizing the number and kind of degrees, together with the total amount of graduate work reported in the faculties, gives a factual basis for the standard in this respect. However, the table may be somewhat misleading if graduate work has been taken by only one member of the staff. This may lead to the conclusion that the time devoted to graduate work is evenly distributed throughout the staff. As a matter of fact, there is a wide variation in this respect. The table merely serves to indicate the institutions that attach some significance to graduate work as a qualification for institutional service.

Salaries.-Table 16 records the number of veterinarians on the teaching staff, the maximum, minimum, and average salaries. For obvious reasons the names of the institutions as well as the salaries of individuals are not recorded. The data in the case of some institutions were somewhat incomplete, but all data available were used to set forth the actual condition in veterinary education.

TABLE 16.-Analysis of staff—age, training, and salary

Generally speaking, the average salaries in veterinary colleges seem rather high as compared with some other departments in the same institution. This is due to the fact that there is a small percentage of men of lower rank in veterinary education because of the small faculties. Salaries must also be higher than in the branches that are strictly academic. A professor of history or of a number of other subjects common to most universities would find positions in his chosen field rather few in number outside educational institutions. In veterinary medicine as in human medicine, however, the man of more than average ability in his chosen profession is always confronted upon graduation with the problem of deciding between institutional service and other types of opportunity within his profession. During more recent years the opportunities for men of fine personality who are well educated in veterinary medicine have been so attractive, especially in the commercial field, that some of the men badly needed in educational work have gone to the field where the financial

considerations are more attractive. On the whole, educational institutions can not compete with commercial interests on a salary basis. But many persons would prefer institutional work if they could be certain of sufficient salary to keep themselves and families in reasonable comfort.

Institutions that do not have a satisfactory arrangement for retiring and pensioning members of their staffs are at a distinct disadvantage not only in securing strong men to recruit their faculties, but also in retaining men who have developed into strong men during their connection with the institutions. College professors, on the average, admitting that they have been acceptable teachers, should retire at 65 or before they are 70. There is much more unrest in the faculties where no retiring allowance is provided, because some of the most devoted and valuable teachers are not successful financiers. Salary is not the only factor to be considered in determining the benefits accruing to staff members of the various veterinary colleges. The institutions that are sufficiently well financed to pay good salaries are also the ones who provide retiring allowances. Thus they have a twofold advantage.

It will be noticed that there is a wide range in the maximum salaries ($4,000-$7,500). One would expect that the highest average salary would be found in the smaller faculties where there is only one veterinarian for each major subject. In the older colleges a department usually has one or more instructors and assistant professors in addition to the head. The lowest average salaries, however, are paid in the small faculties. The only conclusions possible are that the annual budget will not permit a sufficient number of competent staff members and that the money available is not sufficient to compensate properly the few already on the staff. A few colleges with liberal salary budgets can to a considerable extent attract all the strong men in veterinary education to these institutions. This is not to the best interest of veterinary education as a whole. It "robs Peter to pay Paul" and leaves the less fortunate colleges with vacancies very difficult to fill.

Veterinary education should prepare more young men for institutional work. In the case of veterinary physiology, for instance, according to the reports there is only one man in the United States with the rank of instructor. The fields of surgery and medicine each have two such men. Upon the basis of actual positions in most branches of veterinary education there is little opportunity for a young man to start as an instructor and work his way up. There is one other source from which veterinary colleges may possibly draw men, with reasonable assurance that they have had some training which will qualify them to a certain extent for positions on the