August 2, 1945

Dr. Richard W. Dodson

P. O. Box 1663

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dear Dick:

Professor Yost has pointed out to me that my letter to you was not clear with respect to the statement about teaching duties.

You know that we have 160 freshman. Each of four groups of 40 occupies the laboratory for two 3-hour periods, giving a total occupancy of the laboratory of twenty-four hours per week. All of the men carry on the same work. It was my intention that both you and Charles would serve as supervisor of the laboratory work during twelve of the twenty-four hours during each of the two semesters, or rather three terms, of the year, but that you would divide between the two of you the primary responsibility for the laboratory experiments, one having this responsibility during each half of the year.

The question has been raised in a meeting of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering here as to whether twelve hours of supervision of the laboratory is too much to expect of each of you, in addition to other duties. In many universities it is the custom for the staff member in charge of the laboratory to be present himself during only one or perhaps two hours of the 3-hour period, and then to go about other business, leaving the laboratory entirely to the teaching fellow. This custom has been followed here to some extent. However, the members of the Division feel that it is wise for us to improve the quality of our laboratory work, and that perhaps this could be done in part by having a staff member, if not in the laboratory, at least in an adjacent office, and accessible to the students throughout the whole of the 3-hour period. I have in mind that the office next to the freshman laboratory would perhaps be occupied by the staff member (you or Charles) throughout the 3-hour period, but that he would spend only a part of the period in the laboratory itself; he could then repair to the office and carry on some work at his desk, being available for interruption by students or teaching fellows when necessary.

It is not proposed that you and Charles have more than your share of the teaching duties of members of our Department. I believe that it is felt that the members of our staff have not had unduly heavy teaching duties, and perhaps the work outlined in my letter is such as to constitute a greater teaching load than you should carry. If this were to be so, we would arrange for a change to be made - perhaps another staff member would take over supervision of the laboratory during several hours of the week, or perhaps the Division would decide that the presence of a staff member for one and one-half or two hours of the laboratory period is all that is needed. In any case, I believe that you would find that the major part of the teaching work (correcting papers, planning future experiments, etc.) could be done during the hours assigned to the laboratory, and that to count these hours purely as contact hours would not be exactly right.

Let me assure you that you have no reason to anticipate being burdened with a teaching load so heavy as to interfere seriously with your research. We are interested in doing a good job of teaching, but we are also deeply interested in carrying on research, and in particular in carrying on the sort of research that you and Charles are planning on. In general the burden of teaching is much less at the California Institute than at the larger universities.

Let me say to you also that I am very optimistic indeed about the future of the California Institute of Technology, which is now undergoing changes which to my mind auger very well for the future. I am confident that the Institute will during the coming decades be one of the best places in the world for the prosecution of fundamental scientific work, and that the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in particular will be an interesting group with which to work. Moreover, I am sure that the situation with respect to advancement and salary, as well as for facilities for work, will be far better in the future than it has been even here in the past.

Cordially yours,

Linus Pauling

LP:gw

cc: Dr. Charles D. Coryell