Essay on History and Heritage
Written by J Thomas Brown
| The Beginning | Masterplan I | Masterplan II & III | Athletics | Organizations | Traditions |
From Normal School to University
Master Plan II: By the end of the 1930's, a building program had resulted in the construction of a Laboratory School. A state of the art model in teacher training facilities which was one of the largest and best equipped such facilities in the nation. A new Student Union Building, and the Fine Arts and Commerce building were nearing completion, and students enjoyed the benefits of campus residence in two dormitories (Women's Residence Hall and Parsons Hall for men) which provided room and board for a cost of $90.00 per quarter. Eagle and Mulberry Streets, through the heart of the campus, were closed and a pedestrian Quadrangle was developed to form an open green space around which the campus could grow.
The years during World War II were difficult for the university as men and women left school to join the military service or work in war-industry related occupations. The V-5 and V-12 Naval training units located at Indiana State helped maintain enrollment levels and the financial security of the institution.
In 1940, a bachelor’s degree was made a requirement of all teachers licenses issued in Indiana. As this requirement took effect, the students of Indiana State Teachers College were graduated with a bachelors degree and the final lingering vestiges of the Old Normal School course of study were eliminated from the curriculum. As Indiana State celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1945, President Ralph Tirey could note with pride that throughout it's history as a Normal School and Teachers College, Indiana State had been recognized as one of the outstanding teacher training institutions in the United States. Many graduates of the institution have taught in Indiana public schools and assumed positions of leadership in Indiana education. Practically every school district in the state of Indiana has felt the influence of Indiana State teachers.
Within a decade, President Raleigh Holmstedt was able to note that while the preparation of teachers remained the principal function of the Teachers College, the graduate curriculum at Indiana State was designed primarily for teachers and school administrators, "strong undergraduate program permitted an increasing proportion of its graduates to prepare for other professions and vacation." By 1958, nearly one-third of the graduates of Indiana State entered professions and vocations other than teaching. The post-war period witnessed a profound trauma in American education. Returning veterans took advantage of educational opportunities offered to them under the G.I. Bill of Rights and returned to pursue complete college degrees. Enrollment in 1945 was 788 and in 1947, this number increased to 2555. In subsequent years their children, the "baby-boomers", flooded primary and secondary schools throughout the country and finally entered colleges and universities in the late 1950s and 1960s. This staggering increase in the number of students effected Indiana State in two ways; first, teachers had to be trained to fill the elementary and secondary school classrooms being built all over the state; and second, college enrollments soared as the "baby-boomers," entered higher education. At Indiana State, enrollment in 1959 was 5,189 and by 1968 was 12,892 at the Terre Haute campus with a total of 16,532 in all programs of both the Terre Haute and Evansville campuses.
The growth of the academic curriculum doubled with the tremendous increases in enrollment produced a period of explosion unparalleled in institutional history. In the decade from 1959 to 1969 a total of 15 residence halls would also be constructed on the campus. The Married Student Housing Complex would be completed and plans were made for the construction of Lincoln Quad. During the decade, the academic curriculum and administration were reorganized to form the College of Arts and Sciences (1962), the School of Education (1960), the School of Graduate Studies (1961), the School of Nursing (1962), the School of Business (1964), the School of Health Education and Recreation (1965), and the School of Technology (1968). In 1965 Indiana State University started its own doctoral study program with a Ph.D. degree in elementary education and guidance-psychological services. In the same year, Indiana State established an Evansville campus (ISUE) and enrolled its first class in September of that year. In 1985 this Evansville branch campus became the University of Southern Indiana and joined Ball State University as an outstanding institution of higher education originally founded by Indiana State University.
The peak of campus growth and enrollments occurred in the early 1970s. By September 1971, there were 806 members of the faculty at Indiana State University and an enrollment of 18,898 students served on the Terre Haute campus, the Evansville campus, and by off-campus extension programs. Faced with the explosion in the number of students and faculty required to teach them, facilities were developed in every available structure in or near the campus, plans were made for new construction, and the boundaries of the campus were pushed outward into the surrounding communities in all directions.
Indiana State University now offers students more than 175 undergraduate programs of study and selected study to the doctoral level. National accreditation for professional programs has been attained in all academic units of the University.