Kent State University - Chestnut Burr Yearbook (Kent, OH)

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The first fraternity at Kent State Normal is Kappa Mu Kappa which organizes in 1922. Depression! Hard times are here; no new construction after all. Nevertheless, Kent con- tinues to grow. No job? Go to school. Kent State ' s fee schedules are the lowest in the state. Its enrollment soars, 832, 1375, 1538, 2008! In 1931 an addition is made to the Administration building and a Liberal Arts college comes into being. What next? Well — haven ' t you heard? The State welfare section wants to turn Kent State into a mental hospital! They say too many teachers, not enough hospital beds. How- ever, no need for excitement; a strong fighting Depression. Jobless sit on legislature steps. In Kent, enrollments rise. James Ozro Engleman President, 1928-1938 David Allen Anderson President, 1926-1928 Karl Clayton Leebrick President, 1938-1943 15

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The William A. Cluff Teacher Training building, later renamed Franklin hall opens June, 1927. In 1923, $175,000 is appiopriated for the con- struction of Wills gym over Blackbird Lake. ' ■1 m:. - ' :-3 - 1 - . ■«•■ ' In Kent, summer registration is 3,814 by 1926 — the largest of any teacher training in- stitution in the nation. It ' s time again for ex- pansion! The department of commercial educa- tion begins. Courses are added, dozens of them. Wills gymnasium, the Training school (now Frankhn hall) and Rockwell library are built. Kent State Normal is working toward an Arts college! President McGilvrey, interested now in a project for international exchange of students, leaves for England. Then, in 1926, he retires and acting president T. Howard Winters takes over from January, 1926, to September, 1926. Kent ' s next president is David Allen Ander- son, 1926-1928. Anderson expands the curric- ulum to include more professional and advance offerings. He tightens degree requirements. He institutes pre-requisites for upper-level courses. Then he assumes the presidency of another state teachers ' college in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Months pass. James Ozro Engleman, who believes Knowledge has to become wisdom to be dynamic, sits in the president ' s chair. He ' s dreaming. He dreams of campus beautification and new construction. He envisions a campus lake and a new science building, a new football field and . . . suddenly something happens and dreams fade away. Rockwell library, costing $250,000 memorializes a man who helped win the school for Kent. 14

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Engleman hall, the first campus building to be faced with red brick rather than yellow, is constructed in 1937. force will prevent the conversion of the college into an insane asylum. Things seem to be looking up everywhere. They ' re reopening the banks, incomes are ris- ing, the railroads are being saved. The New Dealers are taking over and people are dream- ing again. In Kent they ' re dreaming of a University! A Neil ' University Rises By 1935, the Kent State University dream is a reality. A College of Business Administration coordinates with the existing Colleges of Edu- cation and Liberal Arts. A graduate program offers courses leading to the master ' s degree. Time advances. President Engleman re- tires in 1937, and a residence hall is built in his name the following year. Karl C. Leebrick is appointed next president. Like McGilvrey, Leebrick is a non-conform- ist and he promptly makes sweeping changes. Nineteen departments are placed in the College of Liberal Arts and organized in four divisions. Agriculture and library science are dropped. The schools of journalism, music, art and speech are established. Liberal arts and business ad- ministration receive emphasis, and, consequent- ly, men students exceed women students for the first time in Kent ' s history in the fall of 1939. Roosevelt stimulates recovery with the PWA. Mc- Gilvrey hall is built under the program in 1940. Jf ■■ « ■ - 16