Donham, Dean of Business School, Resigns

After 23 years as Dean of the Business School, Wallace Brett Donham '98 will resign his position on July 1, the University has announced. No successor has been appointed but the Board of Overseers' is expected to take action at its monthly meeting today.

Regarding the Business School as thoroughly adjusted to its wartime function, the 64-year-old Dean chose to resign now as the moment when there was the least unfinished business. Hoping to accomplish "a lot of things there never was time for as Dean," he will nevertheless retain his position at the School as George Fisher Baker Professor of Business Economics.

When Dean Donham took over the Business School in 1919 it was an 11 year old foundling without class rooms or living quarters, holding its lectures in the Freshman Union, and had been seriously affected by the first World War.

Introduced Case System

The case system of study, long used in law and medical schools, was adopted under Dean Donham's encouragement. This was a radical move in the teaching of business, confronting the student with a succession of problems calling for active, practical decisions.

In 1927 the Business School plant across the Charles was completed with the proceeds of a $10,000,000 campaign headed by Dean Donham and William Lawrence '71, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts. George F. Baker, Sr. was chiefly responsible for making the construction possible.

Adjusted to War

To cooperate with the nation's war effort Dean Donham's organization has added its Industrial Administration course and has taken in Army Quartermaster and Navy Supply Corps officers for special training. Hampered only by limitations of faculty-manpower, the School now is completely in line with the needs of the armed forces.

After a vacation in July, Dean Donham will return to his professorship. He will not yet tie himself down to any committments of future activity, but does expect to add to his writings.