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Riverside: Graduate Division

Although limited graduate study and research in the agricultural sciences had been offered on the Riverside campus for many years in cooperation with corresponding graduate programs of other campuses of the University, full-fledged graduate study began with the designation of the campus as a general campus of the University by the Regents in 1959, with the mandate to develop graduate, professional, and organized research work as appropriate to the University.

First Graduate Students
As a subdivision of the Graduate Division, southern section and with the appointment of Arthur C. Turner as associate dean, the first graduate program leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees was offered in chemistry in the fall semester, 1960, with 17 students enrolled. In the spring semester, 1961, additional program in physics leading to the M.A. degree and in education leading to the general elementary and general secondary teaching credentials were offered, with the enrollment of 19 additional students.

An Independant Graduate Division
A separate and independent Graduate Division was authorized and established in the summer of 1961 with the appointment of Ralph B. March as dean. The initiation of 12 new graduate programs in the fall semester, 1961 provided additional opportunities for graduate study and research in English, entomology, geology, history, horticultural science, mathematics, physics, plant biochemistry, plant pathology, plant science, soil science, and zoology. Graduate student enrollment in the fall semester, 1961 totalled 190.

The succeeding four years were characterized by rapid growth and expansion as the necessary critical resources were brought together to justify the initiation of new graduate programs and the extension of previously authorized program into additional areas of graduate study. In the fall semester, 1965, 23 master's degrees, 16 Ph.D. degrees, and three credential programs were offered in anthropology, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, comparative literature, economics, education, English, entomology, French, geography, geological sciences, German, history, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, plant pathology, plant science, political science, psychology, soil science, and Spanish, with the enrollment of 834 graduate students in these programs. These students represented undergraduate training from nearly all the colleges and universities in California as well as most of the 50 states and 35 foreign countries.

The initial graduate degrees were conferred at Riverside in June, 1962, with the awarding of six master's degrees. The first Ph.D. degree was conferred on Thomas Wolfram in physics in January, 1963. Through the 1964-65 academic year, 194 master's and 42 Ph.D. degrees were awarded.

Graduate Opportunities Expand
In addition to the world-renowned and long-established Citrus Research Center, opportunities for graduate research were extended by the establishment of the Air Pollution Research Center, the Philip L. Boyd Desert Research Center, the Dry Lands Research Institute, and the Latin American Research Program since Riverside's designation as a general campus of the University.

Further development and expansion of graduate programs to the doctorate level in all basic fields of the arts, letters, and sciences was being given high priority by the mid-1960's. A second development involved the further introduction of interdisciplinary programs, while a third development was to encompass entirely new areas of graduate instruction in the Schools of Administration and Engineering, which were then in the initial organizational stages. With these developments, a further doubling of graduate enrollment to 1,700 students in 35 master's, 27 Ph.D., and five teaching credential programs was projected for 1970.

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