Riverside: Departments

Philosophy and Classics
The Department of Philosophy and Classics was established as a result of the reorganization of the College of Letters and Science in July, 1963. However, both subjects had been taught under the aegis of the Division of Humanities since the opening of the college in 1954. A major was offered in philosophy from the beginning of the college, and in classics since 1959-60. By the mid-1960's, 32 courses were offered in philosophy and 25 in classics, including instruction in Latin, Greek, and ancient history.

The philosophy department consisted of five regular faculty members, three associates, and two teaching assistants. In classics, the department consisted of three regular faculty members and one lecturer. During the year 1964-65, there were 31 students majoring in philosophy and eight in classics. Since the opening of the college, 35 students graduated with philosophy majors and seven with classics majors. Of this number, four were awarded Woodrow Wilson fellowships for graduate study, two in each subject.

In 1963, a graduate program leading to the M.A. degree in philosophy was instituted, and, as of the mid-1960's, four degrees were awarded. It is anticipated that a Ph.D. program in philosophy will be added around 1967; however, no graduate work in classics is planned in the near future. The expected rapid growth of the college in the next few years will undoubtedly produce increased student enrollments, and hence, additions to the faculty, in both fields. As a result of this anticipated growth the department will be divided on July 1, 1966 into two separate departments--of philosophy and of classics. source

Physical Education
Physical Education first offered formal instruction in the spring semester of 1954 with 67 students enrolled in the required program. The department was organized in the framework of the College of Letters and Science. The first chairman, Jack E. Hewitt, appointed January 1, 1953 was responsible for planning the facilities, program and staff. The original staff consisted of four members: Hewitt, Wayne Crawford, Franklin Lindeburg, and Miss Christena Lindborg.

The original program was organized into five major categories: a two-year required program for lower division students; intramural sports for men and women; intercollegiate athletics; theory courses for pre-professional students in physical education; and recreation program for students, faculty and employees.

Three new programs were instituted in 1965. The first was the establishment of a formal teaching minor in physical education. The second was a supplemental recreation program for students which is headed by a full-time recreation supervisor and coordinator. The third was a program of extramural sports for women.

With the addition of water polo, the Intercolliegate Athletics program now offers 11 different sports by the mid-1960's. At that time, he athletic program was not a separate organization; it came under the jurisdiction of the Department of Physical Education. The staff members had combined responsibilities: teaching and coaching.

In the years of its existence, the department grew from four to 14 staff members. The number of students enrolled in the required program increased from 67 to approximately 1,500. The department offered 30 activity courses and ten theory courses. source

Physics
Physics department was established formally as an academic entity in July, 1961, with A. W. Lawson serving as chairman. However, from the inception of the College of Letters and Science in 1954, the operation of physics activities was essentially that of a department within the administrative structure of a Division of Physical Sciences. W. C. Pierce was chairman of the division and R. L. Wild served as vice-chairman of physics.

Student interest in physics at Riverside was always high. Before the campus was designated a general campus by the Regents in 1959, there were more undergraduate majors in physics than in any other discipline on campus.

Graduate work leading to the M.A. degree was approved in 1960, and the Ph.D. degree program was authorized in 1961. The department grew rapidly with the advent of graduate work to a size of 16 staff members and 108 graduate students. The undergraduate physics enrollment, of about 130 students, was essentially what it was before the advent of the graduate program.

The major research emphasis was in experimental and theoretical solid state physics, which was expanded greatly while A. W. Lawson was chairman. In 1965 a major new research effort in experimental high energy physics, headed by Walter Barkas, was initiated to diversify the graduate offerings of the department. This effort was supported by theoretical work in high energy particle physics; research in experimental biophysics and plasma physics was also begun. In the past four years, the department approved ten Ph.D. degrees and 31 M.A. degrees in physics. In June, 1965, the department moved into a new physics building designed for teaching and graduate research in physics. Additional research space for this building was obtained from the National Science Foundation Matching Funds Program. source

Plant Pathology
Plant pathological research was initiated in southern California by the University in 1905 when the state legislature, in response to pleas from the citrus industry, authorized the establishment of a pathological laboratory and branch Agricultural Experiment Station. Laboratories directed by Professor Ralph E. Smith were placed at Whittier and on the Mt. Rubidoux site at Riverside.

In 1913, when the Riverside station became the Citrus Experiment Station and Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture under the direction of Herbert J. Webber, Professors James T. Barrett and Howard S. Fawcett joined the staff. Under the long tenure of Fawcett's leadership, the department enlarged its scope to include teaching at the Los Angeles campus and investigations of diseases of avocados, dates, ornamentals, and vegetables. Professor Leo J. Klotz joined an academic staff of four in 1928 to collaborate with Fawcett and further the work on citrus problems. When Fawcett retired in 1946, Klotz became chairman of the department with its six academic staff members at Riverside and two at Los Angeles.

By 1956, there were 14 staff members at Riverside and four at Los Angeles. In 1957, Professor John T. Middleton succeeded Klotz as chairman. During Middleton's tenure as chairman, the Air Pollution Research Center was established (1962) and formal undergraduate and graduate instruction in plant pathology was inaugurated at Riverside. When Middleton relinquished the departmental chairmanship in 1963 to Professor James B. Kendrick, 19 persons comprised the academic staff at Riverside and one remained at Los Angeles. Middleton continued as chairman of the Air Pollution Research Center. Two additions to the academic staff brought the membership on July 1, 1965 to a total of 21, with 37 non-academic staff members. On July 1, 1964, the department's responsibility at Los Angeles was terminated so that it existed as a single rather than as a dual campus department.

The inauguration of a graduate major leading to the master's and Ph.D. degrees and undergraduate instruction in plant pathology in 1961 added a new dimension to the departmental staff, which had previously been concerned only with research. Starting with six graduate students in 1961, the enrollment reached 21 in the fall of 1964, including students from many foreign countries. Five master of science degrees and one Ph.D. degree were awarded after the initiation of the instructional program.

Thirty-one academic staff members were involved in 60 years of phytopathological research and contributed 2,274 scientific articles to the literature on plant pathology. During this period, numerous honors and awards were garnered by this staff: six Guggenheim fellowships, two Fulbright-Hays fellowships, one National Science Foundation fellowship, and a number of other awards from extramural sources to support sabbatical leaves. Two members were selected as Faculty Research Lecturers for the Riverside campus. In 1965, Professor Emeritus Klotz received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University, and a new laboratory housing the fruit decay work of the department was named the Howard S. Fawcett Laboratory. source

Political Science
For the first decade of the College of Letters and Science at Riverside, instruction in political science shared a common history with that in anthropology, economics, education, geography, psychology, and sociology. The seven subject-fields comprised the Division of Social Sciences, created July 1, 1953 with Arthur C. Turner as chairman. The Department of Political Science emerged from the chrysalis of the division ten years later. It was constituted as a separate administrative entity on July 1, 1963, Turner being appointed chairman.

As was general in the early years of the College of Letters and Science at Riverside, the level of the establishment in political science was at first very modest. When instruction began at the half-year in February, 1954, there were only three faculty members in political science. Of the four faculty members in political science who were on campus in the first full year, 1954-55, two (Turner and Francis M. Carney) were still in the department in 1965, and one (Richard P. Longaker) was chairman of the political science department at Los Angeles. In the 1960's, the pace of expansion became more rapid, and by 1965 there were nine full-time faculty members in the department, not including the two professors of political science who held the offices of chancellor and vice-chancellor--academic affairs.

In its first decade, the instruction in political science of necessity concentrated on a few core fields, being strong chiefly in American government, international relations, and comparative government (Western Europe). As numbers permitted, additional areas of specialization were covered by appointment in public law (H. F. Way, 1957), Soviet affairs (Morton Schwartz, 1963), Latin American affairs (Ronald H. Chilcote, 1963), and public policy administration (Michael D. Reagan, 1964). By 1965, a broad spectrum of offerings was available in the 49 courses listed.

Political science was one of the four (out of seven) subjects in the Division of Social Sciences authorized to offer a major from the beginning. Graduate work began when two master's degrees in political science were instituted in 1962. There were 12 graduate students in the spring of 1965. The Ph.D. degree in political science was first offered in the fall of 1965.

Political science attracted high enrollment from the beginning at Riverside. In the spring of 1965, 220 undergraduates listed themselves as political science majors, forming about ten per cent of the whole College of Letters and Science.

Housed at first in the Social Sciences Building, political science moved to the new Humanities Building in 1963, but this was not regarded as likely to be the department's long-term home. source

Psychology
Instruction in psychology was initiated in the Division of Social Sciences in 1954, concurrent with the opening of the College of Letters and Science on the Riverside campus. Dr. Eugene Eisman was the first appointee, commencing on February 1, 1954. He offered instruction in general introductory psychology, methods and statistics, and learning, while also beginning immediately to develop the Experimental Psychology Laboratory. On July 1, 1954, John S. Caylor joined the staff as acting instructor, enabling the division to offer six courses in psychology.

In 1956, there were five senior theses written. The senior thesis became an elective following conversion of the undergraduate program to a general program on the Riverside campus.

By fall semester, 1962, the psychology staff had increased to seven full-time members. At this point, plans were begun for graduate work. A program for the Ph.D. degree was approved in 1963, so that by fall of that year, the first students were admitted to a graduate program that offered specialization in comparative-physiological, general experimental, and social psychology. Staff strength in these three areas was further augmented to provide a total of nine people by 1965.

Experimental facilities developed to meet needs of the research and teaching programs of the staff and students. Space in the Social Sciences Building was augmented first by the acquisition of one teaching laboratory in Life Sciences, Unit I, and animal research space in one of the greenhouses. Chancellor Spieth supported a major capital improvements project, completed in the spring of 1962, which provided conversion of the northwest wing of the Physical Education Building into research and laboratory teaching space for psychology. The department used this maximally, in addition to an experimental social psychology laboratory in the Social Sciences Building.

The Division of Social Sciences was departmentalized in 1963. Plans for Life Sciences, Unit II, were developed jointly by the new Departments of Psychology and Life Sciences, with psychology to be housed in the south wing. Ground-breaking for this construction took place in late summer, 1965. source