April 15, 2008

by Cheryl Klimaszewski

To browse the records of the Office of the President during the tenure of Dr. James Creese is to gain an understanding of the Institute's place in the world as much as it is a view to the development of the Institute itself. Creese sat on the boards of many prominent local institutions and served on numerous government committees at both the state and local levels.

On January 11, 1961, Creese presented a statement before the Joint Committee on Unemployment of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.   

In his statement, entitled 'Industrial Science in Relation to Full Employment,' Creese called for the Commonwealth to increase funding that would expand research opportunities and cooperation with local industry. He called for a joint effort between the private, corporate and public sectors to provide such funding, and drew on the examples of M.I.T., the North Carolina Research Triangle, and the British system of awarding university grants as exemplary models. He emphasized that Drexel's 'strategic' placement, both by its physical location and in its role as educator and industry partner, positioned it as a key player with which the Commonwealth could work to temper the rise in unemployment. Part of the impetus for the development of new research projects were the long-term goals of the West Philadelphia Corporation, a group formed in 1959 and comprised of the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel Institute of Technology, Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy.

This group was formed to improve both academic and residential life for the area of West Philadelphia as a whole, which included the development of research opportunities in West Philadelphia, thereby increasing the growth potential for all institutions involved. Visit the Drexel University Archives to read a copy of Dr. Creese's statement to the Pennsylvania Legislature and to learn more about the wide-ranging activities and involvements of Drexel's fifth president.

For more information about the archives, visit our home page: http://www.library.drexel.edu/archives/default.html

See also the records of the West Philadelphia Corporation, held by Temple University's Urban Archives: https://library.temple.edu/scrc/west-philadelphia-corporation?bhcp=1 and the Penjerdel metropolitan projecthttp://library.temple.edu/collections/urbana/urb24.jsp?bhcp=1