| | |

History Repeats: UC Co-op’s Legendary Service Ethic 

  

Just like today's co-op faculty, one-time UC co-op faculty member Ralph Van Wye went to great lengths to place his Depression-era co-op students in jobs.

When University of Cincinnati alumnus John Sherman, who graduated in 1938, couldn’t find a co-op job placement during the Great Depression, he decided to take some time off.

He went camping in Michigan.

Then, the local electric utility called his UC co-op placement officer, Ralph Van Wye, with an opening.

Sherman said, “Professor [Ralph] Van Wye visited our German landlords, but they didn’t know where we were exactly. They said my mother had a friend named Rowena down the street. Then, Professor Van Wye visited Rowena, and she said she didn’t know where we were but that I had a friend named St. Clair in town.

“Professor Van Wye proceeded to call every St. Clair in the phone book till he found my friend. My friend told him that we were up at Green Lake in Michigan. So, then, he called up the post office at Bendon, Mich., where our mail came to, and told the postman to go down to our cottage and find me.

This image of a group of UC co-op students during the Depression says it all about the tough economy they faced. For painfully obvious reasons, they called themselves The Bone Trust. One-time UC co-op student John Sherman is at the lower right.

“The next thing I know, the postman came to our cottage and told me, ‘Be at the post office in Bendon tomorrow at noon. You’re going to receive a long-distance call.’ So, I did it, and when Professor Van Wye gets me on the phone, he’s yelling, ‘Where the hell have you been? Do you want a co-op job or not? I said, ‘Heck yes!’ and returned to Cincinnati right away.”

Co-op is where students alternate quarters or semesters of paid, professional work related directly to their majors with quarters or semesters in the classroom. UC, the global founder of co-op, today houses the country’s largest co-op program at any public institution in the United States. UC’s co-op is ranked in the nation’s Top Ten by U.S. News & World Report.

• Back to Accelerating Service for Students: UC Co-op Ramps Up 
• Read more about co-op’s storied history at UC.
• Read more about the millions UC co-op students earn annually.
• Apply to UC.
• Get the latest news from UC.