Dean Wartik Remembers his Early Days at Penn State

17 February 2011 -- Thomas Wartik, dean emeritus of the Penn State Eberly College of Science and professor emeritus of chemistry, arrived at Penn State University over 60 years ago. In this interview, he reminisces about Penn State's campus and the city of State College during the early days of his career. Wartik was Dean of the College of Science from 1971 to 1987. He retired in 1987 and continues to live in State College with his wife Louise.

What were Penn State and State College like when you came here in 1950?

Dean Wartik: First, it was the Pennsylvania State College and not Penn State University. The enrollment was approximately 8,000 and the population of State College was about 8,000. Oddly enough, although the numbers certainly have grown, they have stayed approximately equal over the years. There was no longer railroad service into State College, although there had been almost up until the time I arrived here. I think there was a railroad station in Lemont where people came and took one kind of transportation or another into State College and into this campus. The town then was very different from what it is now.

What do you remember about Penn State's campus?

Dean Wartik: There were many fewer buildings on campus. For science, there was Osmond Lab and Pond Lab and an older building that no longer is there called Walker Lab. It was demolished -- probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s -- in order to make way for another building. There are still lots of pictures of Walker Lab. I sort of hated to see it go. It was a historic edifice. I was here, of course, while it was being demolished. I remember it was a really hard building to demolish. They had a wrecking ball out there for what seemed like weeks, trying to bash the bricks. Eventually, they did knock it down and another building was built on that site.

Walker Laboratory being torn down to make room for Davey Laboratory.

When you arrived at Penn State, was there an official chemistry department?

Dean Wartik: Yes. The chemistry department, in my opinion, was the very best department at the university at that time. There were probably nationally recognized departments in agriculture too. Many educational institutions did not have agricultural colleges so the competition was not as fierce as it was in chemistry.

Who are some of the fellow scientists that you remember most fondly from the chemistry department?

Dean Wartik: In the 1920s, long before I arrived, the chemistry department had been successful in persuading Frank Whitmore, who had been at Northwestern University, to come here as dean of what was then the College of Chemistry and Physics. The College of Chemistry and Physics had three departments: chemistry, physics, and chemical engineering. Chemical engineering now is no longer in our college; it was transferred to the College of Engineering in the mid-1960s. Whitmore was a very well known organic chemist with a worldwide reputation at that time. He was also the author of a book on organic chemistry that was widely accepted. He brought to this department some people who in their own right were quite accomplished and distinguished. He brought Jack (John J.) Aston, who was a physical chemist who had been born in England but who also had been at Northwestern. Whitmore also brought a fluorine chemist named Joe Simon who had quite a reputation for his accomplishments. And maybe most important, he brought Russell Marker, who became a close friend of mine. I think Russell is one of the most important people who ever lived because his work led to the birth-control pill, which has helped to prevent so many unwanted pregnancies throughout the world.

Note: Read more of Dean Wartik's recollections about Russell Marker here.