Davis: Graduate Division

Graduate Instruction Begins
Graduate instruction on the Davis campus began about 1925 with 12 students enrolled in various departments of the College of Agriculture in cooperation with corresponding departments or group majors on the Berkeley campus. The Davis Graduate Division was part of the Graduate Division of the Northern Section of the Academic Senate, composed of faculty members of the three northern campuses, Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. The general policies relative to graduate curricula and degree requirements were under the guidance of the northern section Graduate Council, members of which were appointed from each of the three campuses.

Graduate Instruction Becomes Autonomous
The administration of the graduate programs at Davis from 1925-52 was under the direction of the graduate dean of the northern section. In 1952, an associate dean was appointed and stationed on the campus and in 1953, the first graduate degrees were awarded at the Davis Commencement. When the Graduate Division at Davis became autonomous in 1961, a dean was appointed and a local graduate council was established by the Academic Senate.

Graduate Instruction Expands
In 1946, a School of Veterinary Medicine was established and by 1950, there were about 150 graduate students enrolled, with 120 of them in the new school. A College of Letters and Science was approved for the campus in 1951, followed by a College of Engineering in 1961. In 1959, the campus was designated as a general campus with authority to add major fields, schools, colleges, and to the graduate programs. A graduate School of Law enrolled the first class in fall, 1966.

In 1963, a portion of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore was designated as a part of the Davis campus and the Department of Applied Science was added to the College of Engineering. Graduate study leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering-applied science was approved with instruction at both Davis and Livermore.

Under the joint program of the northern section of the Graduate Division, Davis was authorized to offer work leading to the higher academic degrees. Between 1953 and 1968, the approved degrees and number awarded were approximately as follows: master of science--744; master of arts--173; doctor of philosophy--479; master of education--160; master of engineering--14; doctor of engineering--4; doctor of veterinary medicine--581. In the 1950s and 1960s, many new areas of study were approved in the humanities, arts, and social sciences following the rapid increase in faculty in the College of Letters and Science.

World War II
The graduate student enrollment between 1925-45 remained at a rather static level, because of the slow development of additional areas of study and the fact that the U.S. Army Signal Corps occupied the campus during World War II (instruction was suspended for this period). Enrollment increased rapidly from 150 students in 1950 to about 700 in 1900 and 1,740 in 1965.

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