Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Personnel Office
Biography
Northwestern University began operations on its Evanston campus in 1855. Between 1869 and 1887 the University affiliated itself with professional schools in medicine, law, pharmacy, and dentistry. These schools were located in Chicago and each retained an autonomous Board of Trustees until 1892, when Northwestern's Board subsumed all the others. In 1916 a proposal was made to consolidate all the professional schools on one Chicago campus. This plan was carried out in 1926 when the new campus at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive opened its doors.
The administration for both campuses was located in Evanston, although various administrative functions were duplicated on the Chicago campus. The dispensing of loan funds and the collection of repayments was one such function. Northwestern provided financial aid to its students from its earliest days. In 1870 the University began to solicit funds for scholarships and loans. Prior to that scholarships had been sold to raise funds for the fledgling University. By the turn of the twentieth century general university revenues, as well as privately endowed funds, were being expended for scholarships, fellowships, and loans. Between 1892, when Northwestern took over the administration of the professional schools, and 1927 each school disbursed and collected its own loan funds, whether provided by endowment specifically to the school or from general University funds.
During the academic year 1927/28 the University Council, composed of the President, the deans of the schools, and the chairmen of the several departments, was replaced by the University Senate. The Senate, comprised of all full professors, in addition to the deans, chairmen, and President, increased faculty participation in the decision making process at Northwestern. As one consequence of the reorganization loans were henceforth disbursed and repaid to one office on the Chicago campus. The Director of University Personnel, Delton T. Howard, carried out that function for Chicago campus students from 1929 to 1933.