UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #283
FRASER, LEMUEL A.

FRASER, Lemuel A. (1918- )
Graduate Student; Professor of Zoology
At UW: 1939-1944; 1949-1987

Interviewed: 1984	
Series: Life Sciences
Interviewer: Laura Smail
Indexed (time code) by: Alexis Puzon
Length: 2 hours

Background; Zoology Department; Faculty in early 1940s; Changes in departmental politics after retirement of Michael Guyer; Division in Department; Botany Department; Question of merging departments; Recruiting problems; Chairmanship; Aldo Leopold; Game management attitudes; Zoology Department social life; TAs; Income and overhead; Presidents; Computer use; Committees; Ford Scholars program; Mark Ingraham's deanship.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:02	Background.

00:01:55	Coming to UW; pay; living arrangements; military status.

00:04:13	Michael F. Guyer secured him a postponement. Joined Navy before Army caught up with him.  Chairmanship. 

00:08:47	Department hired own graduate students.  Guyer's research never came to anything; his personality; his bequest to department; his cytology course; his textbook; his wife's role in textbook; Miss Claus; Guyer's protection of Mohs during trouble with AMA.  Was publicized.

00:17:02	George Wagner.

00:18:01	Birge, Juday.

00:20:01	Botany department's reaction to naming of Birge Hall.  Wisconsin Natural History Survey.

00:22:04	William S. Marshall.

00:24:30	Noland.  Breadth of his knowledge.  Sunday evening gatherings.  His research.  His drawing. His honesty.

00:31:45	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:52	After Guyer's retirement, decision to rotate chairmanship, have weekly staff meetings.

00:34:08	Miss Bilstad--no research, fine teacher.  Describes her.  Had own plane.

00:35:50	Juta Reilly and graduate school in 1944.

00:38:46	Labs, equipment etc. in zoology in 1940s and when he came back in 1949.  Always had enough money for minor equipment.  Now, limited.

00:44:03	Apportionment of money.  No ill feeling.  Problems in department happened when new building separated faculty.  People didn't know what others were doing.  Field people in Birge, lab, cell people in zoology research.  Problem arises when hiring new staff, but no enmity.  Plan, in fall 1984, to have weekly seminar at which people give papers.  Jack Heilman and Tony Stratton had idea.  Passed enthusiastically at department meeting.  Crowding's good effects.

00:49:32	Hasler even more isolated.

00:50:56	Reasons for troubles on botany.

00:51:54	Not much contact between botany and zoology.  Debate over possibility of merging two departments.  Botanists opposed.  

00:54:05	Harold Wolfe.  Taught comparative anatomy.

00:55:18	Chairmen's role.  They have been passive.  But committee does recruiting.  Describes recruiting you have to do now.  One very big disagreement on building issue.

00:59:22	Discussing enticements when hiring people.  Difficulties of replacing people sometimes, e.g. Noland.

01:02:36	End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:00:06	Continuation of hiring policy discussion

00:01:18	LF's chairmanship.  Why he stayed on so long. 

00:03:13	Leon Epstein set salaries for chairmen.  More generous.  No personnel problems while LF was chairman.  Department all together.  

00:05:57	Plaut in botany, assistant professor.  To be let go.  Zoology kept them.  Kitchell was on staff of IES.  Brought over to zoology.  Reasons.

00:08:24	Choosing graduate students.  They picked their own.  Now have to be approved by a staff member.  Hasler and Beals have both had too many; and R. K. Meyer.

00:11:16	No direct connection with Ag departments except on prelims, etc.

00:11:56	Aldo Leopold position very tenuous.  Ill feeling toward game management.  His teaching.  Zoology had joint appointments with entomology and genetics.  Botany has more.  Zoology has with medicine: medical microbiology, vet science.

00:15:08	Used to have lively social life: Wolfs, Emlens, Crows, Ris's, Frasers.  Used to have parties.  Included whole department, graduate students and faculty.  Still have picnic and Christmas Party.  

00:17:11	Used to eat at Tripp Commons.  Sometimes went to Home Economics tea room.

00:18:12	Sterling Hall bombing blew windows out in Birge.  Had activist TAs.  Faculty taught labs.  Relations good.  TAs not mad at department.

00:22:26	Federal grants went mostly to Zoology Research Building.  Always a last minute job.  Use of overhead.  Now get it from dean; used to get it from graduate school.  Arranged elaborate formula to divvy it up but never got any more.  Windfall money.  Amount $65,000 to $20,000.  Varies widely.  Used for big equipment.

00:26:13	No dealings with Harrington due layers in between.  But with other presidents did.  No use seeing Fred; Elvehjem was helpful.

00:28:43	The opposition to being on Ag campus.  

00:32:42	His old office.  Now building is being remodeled.

00:35:07	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

00:35:09	Computers ten or twelve years ago.  Zoology and botany got one together with graduate school money.  Not satisfactory.  Now use 1100.  Delay due UW difficulty deciding system--he's thinking of scanners.  UW wanted them all alike and couldn't decide which system to get.

00:37:58	Campus-wide committees.  At time decided allow Ford scholars in.  Herb Howe developed ulcer over them--in charge of them.  Describing other committees.

00:41:52	Always went to faculty meetings.

00:42:19	Talk about fraternity discrimination policy.  Is not interested in faculty rules and regulations or rights and responsibilities.  Remembers UW history requirement.  History department against it.  Administration prevailed.  A few years later quietly disappeared.

00:46:00	  Did Ingraham hold sciences back?  e.g. use of soft money to pay salaries.  His opposition.  Precipitated his retirement.  Zoology department on his side.  Doesn't think Ingraham held them back.  Noland's criticism of him was that he took large university view instead of pushing for L&S.

00:49:43      End of interview.

END