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San Diego: Departments

Earth Sciences
This department, the first academic department on the San Diego campus, was established July 27, 1959 as the initial stage in the expansion of the specialized La Jolla campus to a general campus. The original graduate degree given by the department was the Ph.D. in geochemistry, which had previously been administered through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. With the development of the more general curriculum, this was changed and the department now gives undergraduate and graduate degrees in earth sciences. The department also served as a nucleus for the development of the Department of Chemistry until faculty strength in chemistry was sufficient to organize an independent department. These two departments still maintain very close ties with each other in teaching and research.

In the mid-1960's, faculty numbered 15 full-time professors with interests in almost all aspects of the earth, marine, and atmospheric sciences. Seven of these men were associated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in its Division of Earth Sciences and four men are members of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. The curriculum included 20 graduate and nine undergraduate one-quarter courses. The student body numbered 35 graduate students and some 12 undergraduates.

The department offered two general graduate curricula, one in geology-geochemistry and one in geophysics, which were directed toward applications of the analytical, experimental, and theoretical aspects of physics and chemistry to the earth and space sciences. Field courses in geological and oceanographic work were given. Extensive participation in research was emphasized.

A major curriculum innovation in the mid-1960's was the development of an annual summer field course built around a departmental sea-going expedition. On these expeditions, organized around staff research projects, students participated in field work at sea, on islands, and on adjacent continental areas, carrying on studies in marine and terrestrial geology, geochemistry, and geophysics. Formal lectures and seminars were given on the ship by staff members and visiting professors. Much of the work was published by the students themselves. These unique "expedition courses" using the Scripps institution research ships operated in the following areas: San Benitos expedition (1961--San Benitos Islands); Zephyrus expedition (1962--San Diego-Martinique, Mid-Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea); Bonacca expedition (1963--Guatemala, Panama, Caribbean Sea); Carrousel expedition (1964--San Diego-Easter Island, Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile, Clipperton, and San Benedicto Islands); Papagayo expedition (1965--San Diego-Costa Rica, Guatemala Basin, Mexico). A special volume on the results of the Bonacca expedition was planned to be published by the University of California Press. source

Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution
There is no history currently available for this department.

Economics
The first chairman of the department, Seymour E. Harris, arrived at San Diego in January, 1964. For 1965-66, the faculty was planned to consist of five members; by 1966-67, it was planned to have seven members. Undergraduates who would be required to take the elementary course in economics in 1965-66 were expected to number 150 and in 1966-67, an estimated 600. Six graduate students were expected in the academic year 1965-66 and 14 were expected by 1966-67.

The department tried one innovation, namely to keep down the number of courses. The intention was to have six fundamental courses for both undergraduate and students: Economics 1, which would be for undergraduates only, Economic History, Public Policy, Quantitative Economics, Micro-Economics, and Macro-Economics. In the development of these courses the staff would deal with monetary problems, problems and similar fields, but they would be tied to the broader categories here presented. There would be some seminars, especially for graduate students and first-class undergraduates. Another innovation would be the introduction of freshman seminars, which were especially successful at Harvard. Freshmen would have increased opportunity to write papers, do independent work, and would not depend excessively upon lectures by senior professors.

In building up the department, an attempt was made to obtain faculty members of differing ideologies and interests, such as mathematical economists, Keynesian economists, and those whose bent was classical economics. source

Electrical and Computer Engineering
There is no history currently available for this department.

English as a Second Language
There is no history currently available for this department.

Environmental Studies
There is no history currently available for this department.

Ethnic Studies
There is no history currently available for this department.

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Last updated 06/18/04.