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History of L&S: 1951-1968 | UC Davis College of Letters and Science
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class="l-page-title__breadcrumb block block-system block-system-breadcrumb-block"> <nav aria-labelledby="system-breadcrumb"> <header id="system-breadcrumb" class="visually-hidden">Breadcrumb</header> <ol class="breadcrumbs"> <li> <a href="/">Home</a> </li> <li> <a href="/about-0">About</a> </li> <li> <a href="/history-ls">Our History</a> </li> <li> History of L&S: 1951-1968 </li> </ol> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="l-container "> </div> <div class="l-container"> <section class=" "> <div class="l-content"> <div class="region region-content"> <div id="block-sitefarm-one-content" class="panel--nested block block-system block-system-main-block panel o-box"> <article> <div class="u-space--no-margin-collapse node__content"> <div class="layout layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--75-25 l-container"> <div class="l-2col l-2col--75-25"> <div class="l-first"> <div class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocksf-basic panel"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media"> <div class="media media--type-sf-image-media-type media--view-mode-default"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/g/files/dgvnsk15706/files/media/images/Frosh-Soph%20Brawl.jpg" width="478" height="336" alt="Frosh-Soph Brawl 1958"> </div> <figcaption>Frosh-Soph Brawl 1958</figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> <div class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocksf-basic panel"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media"> <div class="media media--type-sf-image-media-type media--view-mode-default"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/g/files/dgvnsk15706/files/media/images/mu%201965.jpg" width="715" height="564" alt="Memorial Union 1965"> </div> <figcaption>Memorial Union 1965</figcaption> </figure> </div> </div> </div> <div class="l-second"> <div class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocksf-basic panel"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1951</strong></em></h3><figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div class="media media--type-sf-image-media-type media--view-mode-sf-medium"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/g/files/dgvnsk15706/files/styles/sf_medium_width/public/media/images/Richard%20Nelson.jpg?itok=OdZhHRqx" width="500" height="376" alt="Richard Nelson" class="image-style-sf-medium-width"> </div> <figcaption>Richard Nelson, founder of the Department of Philosophy and Fine Art</figcaption> </figure> <p>The College of Letters and Science is formally established with five departments offering bachelor’s degrees: Botany, Chemistry, Zoology, English and History. L&S also offers courses equivalent to the first three years of majors in Mathematics and Physics. Out of a total 1,562 students enrolled campus-wide that fall, 76 were declared L&S majors. <a href="https://chemistry.berkeley.edu/news/memoriam-alumnus-herbert-alexander-young">Herbert A. Young</a>, chair of the Department of Chemistry, is named the founding dean of the new college.</p><p><a href="https://eggheads.ucdavis.edu/arts-at-uc-davis">Art at UC Davis</a> begins as the Department of Philosophy and Fine Arts, founded by <a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb9t1nb5rm;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00048&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=oac4">Richard Nelson</a> (Art), <a href="https://arts.ucdavis.edu/faculty-profile/jerome-rosen">Jerome Rosen</a> (Music) and <a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4d5nb20m;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00032&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere">Arthur Child</a> (Philosophy).</p><p>The Chemistry Department is accredited by the American Chemical Society.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1952</strong></em></h3><p>Celeste Turner Wright, the first chair of the English Department, establishes the Department of Theatre. The current theatre building is named in her honor.</p><p>The History Department and Physics Department are established.</p><p>Sociology offers its first two courses to 43 students.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1954</strong></em></h3><p><span>David Olmsted, the </span><a href="https://anthropology.ucdavis.edu/about-department-anthropology"><span>first anthropologist</span></a><span> at UC Davis, Begins teaching courses in physical anthropology, ethnology, American Indians, language and culture and the peoples of Africa.</span></p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1956</strong></em></h3><p>The Economics Department is established.</p><p>Campus receives authorization for the Ph.D. in Chemistry from the UC Regents.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1958</strong></em></h3><p>Departments of Art, Music, Philosophy and Sociology are established.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1959</strong></em></h3><p>The UC Regents designate UC Davis as a general campus of the University of California. The first brochure for Letters and Science in 1959 offers 25 major fields of study across the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Physical Sciences, the Biological Sciences and Preprofessional studies.</p><p>The Department of Geology is formally established.</p><p>In 1959, the Department of Sociology is formally established and headed by <a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb7t1nb4v2;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00043&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=calisphere">Edwin M. Lemert</a>, an expert in deviance and criminology.</p><p><span>Three rooms in </span><a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/news/historical-highlights-uc-davis-department-art-and-tb-9-1958-1976"><span>TB 9</span></a><span> are allocated for the art department as teaching labs for sculpture classes. The building would become famous for its role in art history that continues to evolve today. In 2016, TB 9 would be nationally recognized for its importance in art history with its inclusion on the </span><a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/16000153.htm">National Register of Historic Places</a><span> and the California Register of Historical Resources.</span></p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1960</strong></em></h3><p>The Political Science Department established.</p><p>The first Russian classes are offered.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1961</strong></em></h3><p>The Dramatic Art and Speech Department is established.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1962</strong></em></h3><p>The <a href="https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8cz37xq/entire_text/">Institute for Governmental Affairs</a> is established.</p><p>The study of philosophy at UC Davis begins with 31 students looking at the major philosophy figures of the past.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1963</strong></em></h3><p>The Wyatt Pavilion, originally a cattle-judging pavilion, is converted into an Elizabethan-style indoor thrust stage in 1963.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1964</strong></em></h3><p>Letters and Science has 3,000 students, 23 major programs and 275 faculty.</p><p><a href="https://californiarevealed.org/do/cc6bdf39-1b24-4a3a-9f40-b40e247253d6">Lawrence J. Andrews</a> is appointed as Dean of Letters and Science and would serve until 1985. The Andrews Conference Room in the Social Sciences and Humanities Building was named in his honor.</p><p>The Anthropology Department and the Fine Arts & Museology Laboratory are established.</p><p>The first Chinese classes are offered.</p><figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div class="media media--type-sf-image-media-type media--view-mode-sf-medium"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/g/files/dgvnsk15706/files/styles/sf_medium_width/public/media/images/Crocker%20Nuclear%20Lab.jpg?itok=cUhNjh0P" width="500" height="631" alt="Crocker Nuclear Lab" class="image-style-sf-medium-width"> </div> <figcaption>Crocker Nuclear Lab 1964</figcaption> </figure> <h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1965</strong></em></h3><p>The <a href="https://crocker.ucdavis.edu/historical-highlights">Crocker Nuclear Laboratory</a> is established, as are the Departments of French and Italian, German & Russian and Spanish & Classics.</p><p><a href="https://communication.ucdavis.edu/memoriam/memoriam-professor-emeritus-james-j-jerry-murphy">James "Jerry" Murphy</a> is named the first chair of the Speech Department, the predecessor of today’s Department of Communication. Murphy, who had spent time teaching at Stanford and Princeton, was a French Chevalier, an honor granted for his contributions to medieval rhetoric in French. Murphy would later serve as a UC Davis vice-chancellor.</p><h3 class="heading--auxiliary"><em><strong>1966</strong></em></h3><p>By 1966, Letters and Science has grown approximately 30% compounded annually. The college faculty begin planning new buildings, new courses and sections of new courses.</p><p>Letters and Science departments are organized under three main divisions: Humanities and Fine Arts, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The Biological Sciences, which would later become the independent College of Biological Sciences, was part of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics.</p><p>A proposal this year suggests offering interdisciplinary courses that introduce students to broad fields of knowledge covering more than one discipline.</p><p>Construction of <a href="https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/c80z749h/?layout=metadata&brand=oac4">Wright Hall</a> is completed. The Main Theater would host its first production <em>Amphitryon 38</em> in February of 1967.</p><p>The Department of Rhetoric is created in place of the Speech Department with an entirely new curriculum. It is the first Department of Rhetoric in the UC system. That department eventually became Rhetoric and Communication, then the Department of Communication.</p></div> </div> <div class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocksf-basic panel"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a class="btn--primary" href="/about/our-history/1908-1950">1908-1950</a> <a class="btn--primary" href="/about/our-history/1969-1999">1969-1999</a> <a class="btn--primary" href="/about/our-history/2000-Present">2000-Present</a></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div> <div class="l-container"> </div> </main> <footer class="l-footer footer dark-background"> <div class="l-container"> <div class="region region-footer flex-footer"> <div class="flex-footer__item"> <nav aria-labelledby="block-students-menu" id="block-students" class="footer-nav"> <h2 id="block-students-menu">Faculty & Staff</h2> <ul class="menu"> <li 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