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Riverside: Colleges and Schools
College of Agriculture
College of Letters and Science
College of Agriculture
In 1960, the Regents authorized the establishment
of a College of Agriculture on the Riverside campus. Alfred M. Boyce
was appointed dean and in 1964, Glen H. Cannell became assistant
dean. Opportunity was afforded to develop a unique curriculum which
would provide modern training in agricultural sciences with special
emphasis on the plant sciences. Instruction began in 1961 under
a single curriculum, that featured a broad general education, with
adequate requirements in the humanities and social sciences and
a solid training in the basic biological and physical sciences.
Students elected fields of interest from agricultural science, nematology,
plant pathology, soil science, and vegetable crops. Specialization
began at the M.S. degree level for those who planned careers in
agricultural production and service and the doctorate program prepared
students for continuation in research.
The new undergraduate program made it feasible
to enlarge the former limited graduate program initiated at the
time of the expansion and relocation of the small Citrus Experiment
Station and the addition of a Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture
in 1913. Herbert J. Webber was then director and dean. Operations
began at the present campus site in 1917, with formal dedication
in March, 1918. Relatively few students were attracted because only
those who had completed virtually all course requirements on another
campus could come here for dissertation research. While this graduate
school was discontinued in 1939, students continued thesis research
here through the graduate division at Berkeley or Los Angeles.
Undergraduate instruction in subtropical horticulture
was offered at Riverside in highly successful summer sessions from
1924 through 1932. These sessions were directed by Robert W. Hodgson,
chairman, Department of Subtropical Horticulture at Berkeley. The
faculty was comprised of staff members from Berkeley and the Citrus
Experiment Station. With the initiation of instruction in agriculture
at Los Angeles in 1933, these sessions were terminated.
By the mid-1960's, instruction leading to the
B.S. degree was provided by staff members of the Citrus Research
Center and Agricultural Experiment Station (formerly Citrus Experiment
Station).
The M.S. and Ph.D. degrees were offered in biochemistry,
entomology (including biological control), plant pathology, plant
science, and soil science. When this program began in 1961, there
were 30 students; by 1968 there were 187. source
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College of Letters
and Science
When creation of the college was authorized
by the Regents in 1948, it was planned as a model liberal arts college
with facilities for a maximum of 1,500 undergraduates. Implementation
of this design was begun in 1951. Gordon S. Watkins was appointed
as provost (1949-56) and Robert A. Nisbet was named dean of the
college (1953-63). A divisional organization was adopted and curricula
and buildings were designed for undergraduate work in the humanities,
life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences. John W. Olmsted,
Herman T. Spieth, W. Conway Pierce, and Arthur C. Turner were named
chairmen of these divisions. Nisbet was succeeded as dean by Thomas
P. Jenkin (1963-65) and by Carlo L. Golino (beginning in 1965).
Undergraduates were first admitted in February,
1954 and the first four-year class was graduated in February, 1958.
The college aroused widespread interest and its academic program
achieved an early success, among the indices of which have been
accreditation by the Western College Association (1956) and the
authorization of chapters of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa.
The college enrollment exceeded 1,200 in 1959,
when, during the administration of Chancellor Herman T. Spieth,
the Regents decided that Riverside would become a general campus
of the University. This decision resulted in a series of organic
changes in the college. A Graduate Division was established in 1960
and at this time the faculty of the college became responsible for
the development of appropriate graduate programs.
By 1964, graduate students formed more than a
fifth of the letters and science student body. A departmental organization
was introduced which came into full effect in 1963. At that time
the college had 20 departments; in 1965, separate Departments of
French and Italian, of German and Russian, and of Spanish also were
formed. Additionally, interdepartmental curricula were instituted.
Along with the graduate programs, foundations
were laid for research organizations. These changes resulted in
transitional difficulties since library, physical plant, and faculty
had been intended only for undergraduate instruction. Thus, not
until 1965 was the first college building designed for the new roles
occupied. The college accepted the new functions as augmentations
which need to be developed in ways consistent with its original
commitment to academic excellence through an integrated liberal
arts program leading to the baccalaureate degree. source
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