Northwestern State University - Potpourri Yearbook (Natchitoches, LA)

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P n a. Albert Asa Fredericks, who had served on the faculty as Head of the Agriculture Department for fourteen years, was named to the presidency on August i, 1934. His administration was marked by a tremendous growth of the physical plant of the College. In addition to obtaining large appropriations from the State, Mr. Fredericks took full advantage of the assistance available from the various Federal agencies which were established to counteract the effects of the depression — PWA, CWA, ERA, WPA, and NYA. The major construction included W. H. Trisler Power Plant, 1936; addition to Warren Easton Hall, 1936; Scharlie E. Russell Library, 1936; Stadium, 1939 ; four frame dormitories for boys, and one for girls, 1 938-39; Addition to Infirmary, 1939; modern Dairy Barn, J 939; Varnado Hall, 1939; Caspari Hall, 1939; present Men ' s Gymnasium, 1939, Natatorium, 1939; Fine Arts Building, J 939; Student Center 1939; Addition to Power Plant, 1940, and present Water-Tank, with its N, 1940. Also, in 1939, the Natchitoches High School and the Natchitoches J rade School were both built on the campus. Most significant among the curricular changes vere the introduction of liberal arts programMffra vodnional programs. The College shifted in 9 trom the quarter to the semester basis in the operation of the instructional program ; this same year many of the small academic departments which embraced single subjects only were grouped together into larger departments — notably, Social Studies, Vocational Education, and Sciences. During the 1939 fall semester there were 1,716 students enrolled. In 1935 the two-year curricula for elementary school teachers were extended to three-year curricula; and, in turn, these were extended to four-year curricula in 1940. By 1941, ninety percent of the faculty had graduate degrees. Less than a year after Joe Farrar assumed the presidency, on April 1, 1941, bombs fell at Pearl Harbor; and the building program at the College halted abruptly. During the tragic years of World War II, the regular enrollment dropped as the students, women as well as men, resigned to enter the armed services and to take war-related jobs. The major contribution of the College to the war effort was made by providing housing facilities and supplying instructors for a unit of the Civilian War Training Service, and for two naval avaiation training schools — a Navy Flight Preparatory School and a Navy Academic Refresher Unit, V-5. Approximately 4,000 sailors, marines, and coast-guardsmen received training on the campus. Extension and correspondence courses were discontinued in 1942. By 1944, the various instructional programs had become so diversified that the College was reorganized academically into three Schools — Applied Arts and Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Education — each with its own dean. This same year the name of the college was changed again, to Northwestern State College of Louisiana, in recognition of the expanding functions of the institution. In 1945 the college became a member of the Association of American Colleges. During the last six months of his administration, Dr. Farrar was ill, and Augustus Carlyle Maddox, Head of the Department of Mathematics, served as temporary Acting President. Dr. Joseph Gibson was president from July 1, 1947, until September 1, 1949. New capital-outlay appropriations were made by the State, and additional, badly-needed buildings were constructed: Industrial Education-Aviation Building (later destroyed by fire,) 1947 ; present Home Economics Building, 1949; Business Administration Building, 1949; and Religious Center (now Billiard Hall), 1949. From July 1, 1949, until September 1, 1950, Dr. William Garnie McGinty held the office of Acting President. During his term the new Dairy Barn, 1950, was constructed and the Chemistry-Physics Building, 1950-52, was begun. In September, 1949, an important development in the instructional program of the College was the creation of the Department of Nursing. And on April 3, 1950, a Senior Reserve Officers '

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