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San Diego: Graduate Division

The graduate program of the San Diego campus had its beginnings in the 1920's when graduate students from the Berkeley campus traveled to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to study under several of the prominent oceanographers on the staff.

Several graduate oceanography courses were listed in the 1920's but it was not until the 1930's that the first degrees in oceanography were offered by the University. At that time the students spent most of the time on the Scripps campus but the degrees were awarded by the Los Angeles or Berkeley campuses.

In the mid-1960's, as in the early years, Scripps offered only a graduate curriculum. Some 30 years after the first graduate students began work at Scripps, the Regents, in 1958, authorized the establishment at La Jolla of an Institute of Technology and Engineering. Emphasis was placed on graduate work in science, technology, and engineering due to the special needs expressed by San Diego civic, industry, and service groups and the greatly increased demands for scientific education and research because of their importance to national security.

In 1959, the Regents changed the name of the institute to the School of Science and Engineering. The new school was to provide graduate instruction and research in mathematics, physics, chemistry, the earth and biological sciences, and engineering. By June 30, 1959, seven faculty appointments had been made and a total of 36 appointments had been approved for the next fiscal year. The school enrolled its first graduate students in 1960 in the physical sciences.

Roger Revelle, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was selected by the Regents in 1958 to head the new school. Two years later, Norris W. Rakestraw, professor of chemistry at Scripps, was named associate dean of the Graduate Division and a year later, dean of the Graduate Division at San Diego. He held the post for four years, giving it up to travel and study in Europe.

Keith A. Brueckner, professor of physics and director of the Institute for Radiation Physics and Aerodynamics, served for two years as dean of Letters and Science before serving for six months (from February to June, 1965) as dean of Graduate Studies at San Diego. Since Brueckner's appointment as director of the institute, two professors served as acting dean of the Graduate Studies. They are James Arnold, professor of chemistry, who served as acting dean until September, 1965, and Martin Kamen, professor of chemistry, who later served as acting dean.

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