Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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J ■■ • ■ ' ■ Xj- jJ 5 aia ' » «« 8 -« K3 History Hands across the tracks meet halfway, before the Civil War. For early students, Although the train tracks were considered was a main form of transportation. (Photo a hassle by 70s students as they are from the Mississippi Valley Collection) today, the tracks have been here since

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1950 1960 1970 1980 1950 — Graduate level course first offered 1957 — Name changed to Memphis State University 1960 — Cecil C. Humphreys elected eighth president 1961 — Goodwyn Institute Lectures offered. Chucalissa Village becomes apartofMSU 1962 — Ph.D. programs offered 1963 — Law School approved 1966 — Statesman first published 1968— First Ph.D. awarded. Library Tower dedicated 1969— MSU Press published first major book Honoring her accomplishments. Barbara Jo Walker Hummel poses with the 1978 Miss Black America, Claire Ford, who was a sophomore at MSU when she was crowned. They are both firsts: the first Miss America and the first Miss Black America from Memphis State. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) 1972— The Tiger Rag changes name to The Helmsman 1973— Billy Mac Jones named ninth president 1977— MSU sophomore, Claire Ford, crowned Miss Black America 1980— Thomas G. Carpenter named tenth president The walk from college to reality. In the school ' s beginning, the graduation walk was cross campus. These early students cross the grounds for the last time as undergraduates of Memphis State. Many would return as instructors. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Playing tough. Will Renfro was a member of the 1953-54 football team. Like many other athletes at Memphis State, he went on to play professionally. He was drafted by and played for the Philadelphia Eagles. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) A Passing Parade

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Well on its way toward growing, the West commencement exercises in 1913 saw 25 Tennessee State Normal School, as new graduates walk across the campus on Memphis State University was then known, the traditonal graduation trek. (Photo from graduated over 40 seniors in 1 91 9. The first the Mississippi Valley Collection) t started out on the edge of a cotton field. It would only cost about a half million dollars to create, including the furniture for two large buildings: the main Administration Building and a dorm. Bids for everything from the latest device in a patent dishrag to a concert piano for the auditorium were included in its price (from the Commercial Appeal, Apr. 28, 1912). By fall 1912, these buildings would be filled with the excited voices of students entering the new West Tennessee State Normal School. These students were here to train solely for teaching and administrative school work. They gained acceptance because they had a high school diploma, good moral character and white skin. The profile of the average student — if there can be such a person among 22,000 — has changed. The school no longer is limited to education majors. But these foundations were the necessary start for Memphis State University. Get the cops off campus, was a slogan encouraging students to attend a freedom of speech rally. Students sit-in in front of Jones Hall Cafeteria in April 1969 to express their own attitudes about freedom. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Encouraging adult students to return to Memphis State is part of the recruitment job of Continuing Education. Memphis State used the slogan Weekend University to entice adult students to return to college for a variety of reasons including learning skills they ' ve always wanted to cultivate. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection)