By Hayden S. Sims, Bicentennial Intern, Class of 2019, Economics and History, Bloomington
In 1894, Indiana University created the Committee on Advanced Degrees to oversee the increasing number of students pursuing graduate studies.[1] Eight years later, this committee adopted a report listing numerous recommendations and actions it deemed necessary to improve graduate education, including the formal creation of a graduate school “in order to give dignity and coherence to the graduate work.”[2]
While this report successfully led to the creation of the Graduate School, it would be several decades before it achieved “dignity and coherence.” For the first 35 years of its existence, the Graduate School failed to establish itself in the same echelon of graduate education inhabited by other top Midwestern institutions.
The 1939 Self-Study Committee reported that “Indiana does not deserve to be classed with other state institutions in the Middle West (except Purdue), much less the leading endowed schools in the country.”[3] Fernandus Payne, Dean of the Graduate School from 1927 to 1947, realized as much—well before the Self-Study Committee.
In 1931, Dean Payne, at an event for Phi Beta Kappa, expressed his belief that the Graduate School was far behind its Midwest contemporaries: “I am justified in saying that but little progress has been made [since its founding.]”[4] To show this disparity, Payne pointed out that in 1920, IU granted the same number of science-related Ph.D. degrees as Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio State, but by 1930, IU fell to one-fifth the number of science-related Ph.D. degrees as these institutions.[5]
To fully grasp the state of graduate studies at Indiana University, consider the following excerpt from a letter written by Dean Payne to IU president Herman B Wells on August 8, 1941:
During the year, Professor Birge of the University of California, read a paper before the physics teachers of the country. He gave the number of Ph.D. degrees granted by universities over a period of years. Indiana stood high on the list. He then preceded to state that Indiana did not even have a starred man in physics on its faculty. The inference was perfectly clear, and I agree with him, we should not have given so many degrees. We were not qualified. Our standards were low.[6]
Dean Payne was well aware of the Graduate School’s shortcomings, but he also knew why it had fallen so far behind and had ideas as to how to fix it.
In his opinion, IU did not grant enough time to professors and graduate students for research. He recognized that a focus on research was important in both making professors better teachers and in training students in the skills they will need after finishing their graduate studies. Additionally, he felt that research was necessary “for the advancement of knowledge, either for the pleasure of knowing or for making use of it in some practical way.”[7]
Payne’s opportunity to instill change finally came with the onset of WW II and with the ascension of Herman B Wells to the position of IU president a few years before. Young, ambitious, and relentless, Wells proved to be one of Payne’s best supporters and Payne became one of Wells’ top advisors. These two, along with Herman T. Briscoe, Dean of Faculties and a fellow confidant to Wells during WWII, set change into motion.
The first step in realizing the Graduate School’s full potential was to invigorate the faculty with intelligent, proven academics who would both conduct groundbreaking research and teach a new generation of researchers. In 1941, Payne and Briscoe chose twelve departments within the College of Arts and Sciences in which to focus their energy in this regard including botany, chemistry, economics, English, geology, government, history, mathematics, psychology, sociology, physics, and zoology.
In addition, Dean Payne was granted increased control over hiring, promotions, budgeting, and scholarships.[8] He brought in several distinguished scholars, including Hermann J. Muller, who came to IU in 1945 and who would one year later win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of x-ray radiation.”[9] But increased faculty capital would mean nothing without increased capital necessary for research and instruction, specifically space, lab equipment, and books.
Enter Herman B Wells. While Payne and Briscoe focused on faculty, president Wells focused on lobbying for funds from the Indiana General Assembly. The efforts of Dean Payne, Dean Briscoe, and President Wells resulted in a dramatic increase in both the capital available to the school and the enrollment of qualified young students.
In its first 50 years, the Graduate School conferred 5,441 degrees. 30% of those degrees were awarded in the first 35 years of the Graduate School’s history while the other 70% were awarded between the years 1939 to 1954.[10] Up to 1930, only 10% of graduate degrees being pursued were Ph.D.s; during the 1954-55 school year, Ph.D. candidates accounted for 46.3% of all graduate students.[11]
One explanation for this growth is the increased focus on helping subsidize graduate education at IU. In 1941, Wells helped secure funding for 25 graduate scholarships to help attract top students that may otherwise have been hindered financially from attending IU.[12] And by 1954-55, at least 41% of graduate students received financial aid. While Dean Cleland acknowledged that this was a substantial increase, he also lamented that IU still had a long way to go compared to the level of funding offered by neighboring institutions.[13]
In addition to increased enrollment and financial aid, the capacity of the Graduate School to support and to produce research also increased. In 1937, the library held approximately 300,000 books, and by 1954 its collection had grown to almost 2.3 million items. Research space grew exponentially as well, most notably with the construction of Jordan Hall (then called the Life Sciences Building) at a cost of $5.75 million (equivalent to over $60.2 million in 2018).[14]
As Dean Payne had hoped from the very beginning, these changes translated into increased research and scholarship. The 1953 faculty biography listed “853 separate items published in one year’s time by 335 persons.”[15] Also, as part of the festivities associated with the Graduate School’s 50th anniversary, a week-long exhibition of work done by graduate faculty and graduate students attracted over 800 people on its opening night and 5,000 over the course of the week, causing the exhibition to be extended for another five days.[16]
At the time of its golden anniversary, the Graduate School found itself in an optimistic situation. Enrollment increased, more funding was received for research and capital, and perhaps most importantly, a wealth of exciting and important scholarship was created. While the credit for this change can be rightfully spread amongst numerous individuals, the process ultimately started with Fernandus Payne. His ability to recognize the Graduate School’s shortcomings, his vision for the future, and his execution of that vision all led to the Graduate School finally achieving “dignity and coherence.”[17]
Notes
[1] “Abstract.” Indiana University Graduate Council Records, 1900-2005. Indiana University Archives. Bloomington, IN.
[2] “At a meeting of the Committee on Advanced Degrees…” May 15, 1902. C278. Box 1. Indiana University Graduate Council Records, 1900-2005. Indiana University Archives. Bloomington, IN.
[3] Clark, Thomas D. Indiana University, Midwestern Pioneer. Vol. III, Years of Fulfillment. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977: 355.
[4] Payne, Fernandus. “The Graduate School.” Indiana University Alumni Quarterly. October 1931: 474.
[5] Payne, Fernandus. “The Graduate School.” Indiana University Alumni Quarterly. October 1931: 474.
[6] Clark, Thomas D. Indiana University, Midwestern Pioneer. Vol. III, Years of Fulfillment. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977: 356.
[7] Payne, Fernandus. “The Graduate School.” Indiana University Alumni Quarterly. October 1931: 468.
[8] Clark, Thomas D. Indiana University, Midwestern Pioneer. Vol. III, Years of Fulfillment. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977: 356.
[9] The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1946. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2018. Thu. 25 Oct 2018. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1946/summary/>
[10] Cleland, Ralph. “Report of the Graduate School to the Faculty Council.” May, 1955. Indiana University Faculty Council Records, 1947-1970, Collection 181, Box 16, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington, IN.
[11] Cleland, Ralph. “Report of the Graduate School to the Faculty Council.” May, 1955. Indiana University Faculty Council Records, 1947-1970, Collection 181, Box 16, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington, IN.
[12] Clark, Thomas D. Indiana University, Midwestern Pioneer. Vol. III, Years of Fulfillment. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1977: 355.
[13] Cleland, Ralph. “Report of the Graduate School to the Faculty Council.” May, 1955. Indiana University Faculty Council Records, 1947-1970, Collection 181, Box 16, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington, IN.
[14] Winther, Oscar O. “The Graduate School, 1904-1954,” Reference Files, Indiana University Archives. 1-2.
[15] Winther, Oscar O. “The Graduate School, 1904-1954,” Reference Files, Indiana University Archives. 5.
[16] “5000 View I.U. Grad School Exhibit,” The Herald Telephone (Bloomington, IN), Feb. 25, 1954; “Graduate Exhibits Attract 800 Faculty and Students,” Indiana Daily Student (Bloomington, IN), Feb. 17, 1954. In Indiana University Archives Reference Files, The Graduate School Fiftieth Anniversary (1954).
[17] “At a meeting of the Committee on Advanced Degrees…” May 15, 1902. C278. Box 1. Indiana University Graduate Council Records, 1900-2005. Indiana University Archives. Bloomington, IN.