Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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V . • % v . Li I • r ? ' , §■•■ .. w SsZ ltel I 1 During 1957 thousands of postcards flooded the Legislature asking, urging, suggesting, pleading, and de- manding that the college be granted the title it deserved. Finally on July 1, 1957, the State Legislature passed and Governor Clement signed a bill making it official: Memphis State University! From West Tennessee State Normal School, to West Tennessee State Teachers College to State Teachers College to Memphis State College to Memphis State University: an arduous journey, but a rewarding one, with appropriate rejoicing when the dreamed-of goal was reached. In that same eventful year , Memphis State found a place of glory on the nation ' s sports map. The basketball team entered the National Invitational Tournament, and in a nationally televised game, missed winning the tournament by a single point. Surprised sports writers scrambled for adequate adjectives to describe the Tennessee college that had just been made a university.

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Fabulous Fifties Memphis State ' s next step up academically came in 1950. the year in which Lamar Newport served as President of the institution during the absence of J. M. Smith, when a Graduate Division was added. In just two years, more than six-hundred students registered for the program, proving that such a move had been sorely needed. The Graduate Division was designed primarily for teachers and school administrators, offering a major in education with minors in the humanities, the sciences, and business education. In that same year the Student Government Associa- tion was formed. In 1951 Memphis State began its most difficult climb toward its most notable goal: university status. Administrators of both Memphis State and the University of Tennessee approved a plan to make Memphis State a branch of the University of Tennessee, only to have the plan rejected by the State Legislature. Discouraged but not defeated, school officials, students, and interested citizens of Memphis threw them- selves even more determinedly into the task of making MSC worthy of the coveted title of university. That same year saw the introduction of a new mass medium which was to influence millions of people, including students of Memphis State. This amazing apparatus was the television set. The second year of the fifties was a year of sweeping change for the entire nation. A popular general of World War II. Dwight D. Eisenhower, led the Republicans into the White House for the first time in twenty years, and was promptly dubbed Ike by impatient headline writers. At Memphis State there were a great many changes also. The Administration Building received a new wing to house the Music. Education, and Art Departments: Hayden Hall opened as the new dormitory for men : the Tiger Den admitted its first customers; Governor Browning from Nashville dedicated the new gymnasium; the library boasted a two hundred-fifty thousand dollar addition; the first annual Shakes- pearian Festival received a huge ovation; the R.O.T.C. was established on campus: a Memphis State coed, Miss Jean Harper, was named Miss Tennessee; Greater Mem- phis State, an organization to promote the academic and general welfare of the college, formed in the city; and a new parking lot was paved to meet the growing parking problems as enrollment climbed to more than twenty-five hundred. The following year the college was divided into three schools: Arts and Sciences. Business, and Education. Courses were added and instructors hired. The Graduate School was also expanded. School administrators were working on plans for a shift from the quarter to the semester system, and new policy was put into effect in the fall of 1954. The college was taking on the air of a real university. As the school expanded its curriculum and physical plant, the school spirit was also on the rise. For instance, the Student Government Association had adopted a. new constitution comprised of a system of checks and balances similar to the national constitution. The Interfraternity council began sponsoring Greek Week designed to stimulate better understanding among the many social fraternities on campus. Also, the Veterans Club, with the help of the citizens of Memphis, dedicated an eleven thousand-five hundred dollar elevator for the use of physically disabled students. Memphis State had become a university in all but name. In 1956 the curriculum received an additional boost when journalism was officially divorced from the English department and set up as a new department under the direction of Dr. Herbert Lee Williams. A news bureau was also created to serve area newspapers by sending them information of out-of-town students at Memphis State. As ' 56 slipped into the pages of history, one of the greatest decades at Memphis State ended. It was Presi- dent Smith ' s tenth year as head of the college, and a year in which more and more pressure was applied to the state Legislature to grant university status to MSC. 13

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Along with its elevation to the rank of university, Memphis State continued to add to its rapidly expanding phy- sical facilities. On November 24, 1958. at a convention of the nation ' s top geographers east of the Rocky Moun- tains. Johnson Hall, the new geography building, was officially dedicated. The building was named in honor of Dr. Rayburn W. Johnson who gave one hundred thousand dollars from his earnings as a professor toward con- struction of what has been described as the nation ' s best fully equipped geography building. Dr. Johnson was also named Professor of the Year. During 1959 Memphis State proved beyond a doubt that it had reached maturity and that the State Legisla- ture ' s confidence had not been mis- placed in the newly created university. Without the slightest sign of trouble or violence, eight Negro students en- rolled and quietly began classes in the fall. This unprecedented move was in accordance with the Supreme Court ' s decision of 1954. The year of 1959 also marked the end of President Smith ' s tenure as head of the institution. Forced to retire due to the age law, President Smith accepted a position as southeastern regional representative with the De- partment of Health, Education and Welfare. He was succeeded by Dr. C. C. Humphreys. Dr. Humphreys, the seventh man to occupy the president ' s chair at MSU, was the first man to be appointed whose academic career had been con- fined to the college and university level. All but one of his many years in education had been spent at Mem- phis State. 1912 Golden 1962 Sixties More recent expansion has been breathtaking in its scope and acceleration. The school year of 1960 and 61 saw two new buildings, Jones Hall and a Panhellenic building used for the first time, and 1961 to 62 saw three more structures under construction: a women ' s dormitory, Smith Hall, now completed; a men ' s dormitory, and a business administration building. Also significant has been the establishment on campus of educational television station WKNO and the Goodwyn Institute lecture series. The entire city of Memphis is watching with pride as MSU makes new strides, not only in the college plant and in increased academic activity, but its steady climb toward the big game in the national sports world. The institution which Dr. Humphreys serves as president is a far cry from the school which rose in 1912 upon the ground of an old plantation. From three buildings to twenty-one, plus veteran housing; from an enrollment of two hundred to almost 7,000; from a faculty of seventeen to two hundred-fifty six; from nine departments to five schools, with nineteen departments in one school alone. The harvest has been great, but the world is more than ever in need of an abundant crop of educated men and women to lead and teach and guide the multitudes. Memphis State ' s job has only begun. Those who know and love MSU are confident, however, that the attainments of the next fifty years will more than match the progress of the past.