Records of the Graduate School

Collection

Identifier: UGRS

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Records of the Graduate School consists of documents dated 1933 to 1977. Subjects covered are the business of the Committee on Advanced Degrees and the Graduate Council and the business of the Graduate Student Council, and materials consist primarily of bound meeting minutes for those committees. A small amount of data and some compiled notes on the history of graduate work at Colorado Agricultural College/Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts between 1893 and 1943 is also present.

Dates

Creation: 1933-1977

Creator

Colorado State University. Graduate School (Organization)

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection. However, the collection is stored off-site so advance notice is required.

Restrictions on Use

Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.

History

Graduate education at Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) began in the 1890s. CAC conferred the first advanced degree in the school's history to Burt C. Buffman in 1893 and formally established the Committee on Advanced Degrees in 1897 to oversee graduate work. Graduate education grew slowly for several decades with an increasing number of master's degrees conferred in the 1940 and 1950s.

In 1941, Colorado A and M discontinued the Committee on Advanced Degrees, which had also been referred to as the Committee on Graduate Work, and formed the Graduate School with Dr. I. E. Newsom serving as the school's first dean. That same year, the Colorado Agricultural Research Foundation (now the Colorado State University Foundation) was incorporated to assist with the college's research efforts. Adrian Ray Chamberlain earned Colorado A and M's first Ph.D. in Irrigation Engineering in 1955. Colorado A and M became Colorado State University in 1957, and the university relied heavily on contracts and federal grants to develop and fund its graduate programs, which grew rapidly through the 1960s. The Graduate School was also heavily invested in CSU's involvement in international development. In 1966, a Graduate Student Council was established. In 1974, CSU achieved accredidation as a "mature" institution by the North Central Assocation of Colleges and Secondary Schools. At the same time, the university confronted a dearth of funding, which slowed growth of graduate programs. Today, more than 4,000 students at CSU are enrolled in the Graduate School's over one hundred disciplinary and interdisciplinary doctoral, master's, and professional degree programs.

Extent

1.5 linear feet (1 record carton)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Graduate education at Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) began in the 1890s, and the administration of graduate studies evolved from a three-person committee to the founding of a Graduate School in 1941. This collection contains information on the work of committees that oversee graduate programs at CSU, including Graduate Council minutes and Graduate Student Council minutes. Also present is a small amount of notes and data on the history of the Graduate School at Colorado Agricultural College.

Acquisition

Records of the Graduate School was transferred from the Graduate School by secretary Lavon Brown on behalf of the school in three separate accessions in 1976, 1977, and 1980.

Related Collections

The Records of the Graduate School is related to the Records of the Graduate School History Project, a collection of materials gathered by Becky Haglund to write A History of Graduate Education at Colorado State University (1981).

Separated Collections

Oral histories and questionnairess gathered by Becky Haglund were moved to the Records of the Graduate School History Project in October 2018. In December 2018, Faculty Council minutes were transferred to the Records of the Faculty Council, and Faculty Improvement Committee grants and final reports were transferred to the Records of the Faculty Improvement Committee.

Processing

The collection has been organized and described several times. The collection was created and described in 1976. A finding aid was prepared and duplicate and prepublication material was discarded in 1996. Processing was completed in December 2018. Grant applications were removed, and committee meeting minutes, oral histories, and other materials that belonged to other collections were transferred. Materials were consolidated into one box and kept in original folders.