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Santa Barbara: Departments
Hispanic Civilization
Hispanic Civilization was an interdepartmental
major designed to provide breadth in the study of Spain, Portugal,
Spanish America, and Brazil in their multiple cultural aspects of
language, history, literature, art, music, psychology, anthropology,
political science, sociology, and economics. Completion of designated
requirements in these fields lead to the A.B. degree in Hispanic
civilization. A minor in the program was also available. The five-man
Hispanic Civilization Committee was in charge, representing a cross-section
of the different specializations.
Serious consideration was first given to this
major in 1948 and it was inaugurated in 1953 under the chairmanship
of Philip W. Powell. The city of Santa Barbara had a strong interest
in the development of the program and the then active Hispanic Society
of Santa Barbara was especially outspoken in backing it. The Regents
of the University confirmed its support of the program in 1955,
upon presentation of long-range plans by local financier Francis
Price. Interest reached its peak in 1960 with the ambitious bid
of the committee, under Powell's leadership, to establish a Center
of Hispanic Studies on the Santa Barbara campus.
When Powell assumed chairmanship of the history
department, Winston A. Reynolds, later chairman of the Department
of Spanish and Portuguese, took his place. During his tenure of
office, the committee continued to guide the students who had chosen
this major, generally averaging between one and two dozen. Anticipating
the Education Abroad Program, it often functioned in a direct manner
to help students to study abroad under exchange programs.
Each year the committee selected the outstanding
junior or senior student in Hispanic studies for the Francis Price
Award, a cash prize ranging from $100 to $500 that was endowed by
the Hispanic Society of Santa Barbara and named for its founder.
Another annual activity by the committee was the Hispanic Civilization
Lecture at Santa Barbara.
Among the members of the Hispanic Civilization
Committee who over the years have contributed the greatest amount
of time and effort were, in addition to the two chairmen mentioned,
Professors Kurt Baer, Donald M. Dozer, John L. Gillespie, Stephen
S. Goodspeed, and David Bary. Charles Erasmus, chairman of the Department
of Anthropology, was appointed chairman of the committee in 1964.
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History
William H. Ellison pioneered his history
instruction at Santa Barbara in 1924, and in the next twenty years
built the Department of Social Sciences, from which six present
departments have sprung. In 1944, Ellison, A. Russell Buchanan,
and H. Edward Nettles comprised the history section of the department.
In 1959, the Department of History made its independent appearance
with a staff of eight men. By 1964-65, this number had grown to
17. There then followed an extraordinary expansion as the staff
doubled in one year, growing to 34 in 1965-66. This expansion belatedly
reflected a swift rise in the proportion of Santa Barbara students
majoring in history and enrolling in history courses. By 1965-66,
1,000 students (graduate and undergraduate) were majoring in history,
a figure comprising about 10 per cent of campus enrollment. Both
at the graduate and undergraduate levels, history majors were the
largest single group on campus. Similarly, 10 per cent of the students
on the dean's list were history majors.
The department was one of the first departments
to offer the M.A. degree, graduating its first candidate in 1955.
In 1961, it was also one of the first departments to inaugurate
a doctoral program, conferring its first such degree in 1962 (to
a student who came from Michigan with Professor Alexander DeConde
at an advanced level of preparation). As of 1965-66, three doctorates
had been granted, and 38 students were in the doctoral program.
Eighty students were studying in the M.A. program.
Department chairmen were: Philip Powell, fall,
1959, and 1962-64; Wilbur R. Jacobs, spring, 1960, through 1961-62;
Alexander DeConde, after 1964. In 1965-66, 14 staff members offered
courses in the general area of American history, fourteen in European
history, two in Latin American history, two in Asian history, one
in African and one in Near Eastern history. source
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History of Art and Architecture
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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Home Economics
This department traced its origin back to
the Anna S. C. Blake Manual Training School, a private institution
founded in 1891 for the teaching of cooking, sewing, and sloyd (Swedish
system of manual training using wood carving as a means of training
in the use of tools) to the children of Santa Barbara. These subjects
were later designated as household science, art, and manual arts.
In 1909 after formal organization by Governor
Gillette as the Santa Barbara State Normal School of Manual Arts
and Home Economics, the institution became the first in the United
States to be devoted exclusively to teacher training in these subjects
and the first in California to offer a major in home economics.
In 1912-13, the first building in California for collegiate work
in home economics was constructed on the Riviera campus at Santa
Barbara.
During the evolution of the institution, the department
shifted its emphasis from teacher training exclusively to the broad
spectrum of home economics. In 1944, when Santa Barbara State College
was incorporated into the University, the department offered 25
courses, covering foods and nutrition; child development; institutional
management; clothing, textiles and related art; and house and family
management.
In 1945, in accordance with the intent of the
Regents, the curriculum in home economics was developed to provide
the fundamentals of a liberal education for the students while affording
opportunities for scholarly and professional development.
In 1965, the completion of laboratory facilities
made possible a new focus on research. The undergraduate programs
were based on the physical, biological, and social sciences as well
as the humanities. Under the College of Letters and Science, by
the mid-1960's, the department offered 33 courses and three majors
leading to A.B. degrees, foods and nutrition (including dietetics),
general home economics, and textiles and clothing. In 1964-65, there
were 114 undergraduate and three graduate students enrolled. source
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Humanities Research
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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