University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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I 5'! Y. '31., .7 '1: Y war t- . k Jc'V Q t Y .i '7' Y ??x;. :1. D,:; . H ' F. t .. i TAN Y s A; $5 1 . AY

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WILLIAM L. DUREN. JR. Dean of the College HOWARD E. GILL I ALBERT A. PEARRE Presidenl l'ice-Prcsidenl The University was founded under the name of Central College by Thomas Jefferson. James Madison. James Monroe, and a group from Albemarle County. Three years later the General Assembly chartered the University. Thomas Jefferson became the first Rector of the Board of Visitors. The Board of Visitors provided for eight professorships. N0 degrees were to be granted, and there was to be no fixed curriculum. Students could pursue whatever subjects they pleased, for as long or as short a time as they liked. On completion of the basic courses in any School, as the eight departments were called. a certificate of graduation from that School was awarded. The first session began on March 7. 1825, with sixty-eight students in attendance. Mr. Jefferson originally attempted a system of self-govemment. but the failure of the student iicensorsii to enforce the few existing rules rendered the plan in- effective. He was then forced to inaugurate a system of rigid discipline. and the students were required to wear uniforms. rise at dawn. and retire to their rooms at nine o'clock. The policy of close faculty supervision of student conduct proved to be markedly unsuccessful. but conditions began to improve after the Honor System was adopted in 1842. This proudest tradition of the University was instituted under the inHuence of Professor Henry St. George Tucker. During the 1850's the University really came into its own. The enrollment rdse from 138 in 1845 to 645 in 1856. for Southern students were leaving Northern colleges and coming to Virginia. This necessitated an increase in the number of buildings in the University, and many annexes were built to accommodate the new infiux of students. Throughout the Civil War the University continued to function. though the enrollment only averaged about 64 students. The University experienced a period of prosperity after the War. until the Rotunda and its annex were gutted by fire on October 27, 1885. The Rotunda was soon restored. In 1904-. Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, President of Tulane University. was elected the first President of the University of Virginia. He served with distinction until his death in 1931. when he was succeeded by the late Dr. John Lloyd Newcomb. Upon President Newcomb's retirement in 1947. Colgate W. Darden Jr. was ap- pointed as his successor, and he continues in that capacity today. COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

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LAWRENCE R. QUARLES Dean of the School of Engineering MERWIN A. MACE THEODORE S. GARNETT, JR. Presiden t Vice-President In Jefferson,s educational plan for the University a prominent place was given to uCivil Architecturef as Civil Engineering was then called, and almost from the beginning engineering courses were taught, although not described as such. Apparently, the first notice of courses in Civil Engineering was given in the catalogue for 1835-36, and the 1836-37 catalogue announced the establishment of the School of Civil Engineering. Interest was slight, however; seventeen students were enrolled in the 1836-37 session. and in 1839 only four graduates received diplomas. By 1850 announcements of engineering courses had disappeared from the catalogue. The establishment of the School of Engineering on an enduring basis came with the appointment in 1865 of Charles S. Venable to the Chair of Mathematics. Such engineering courses as were then oHered had survived from the prewar period and were associated with the School of Mathematics. In 1867 the School of Applied Mathematics was instituted. Actually it was a School of Engineering. but not until 1869 did it become independent of the School of Mathematics. In 1869 the University awarded her first Engineering degrees. four graduates receiving their C.E. in that year. These were the first engineering degrees awarded in the South. In 1875 William M. Thornton was appointed Adjunct Professor of Applied Mathematics, and a few years later he succeeded to the chairmanship of that department. From that time until his retirement in 1932 his was the dominant influence in the life of the School of Engineering. 1 Until its destruction by fire in 1895 the Rotunda Annex was the home of the Engineering School; upon the complqlon of the restoration program in 1898 it moved to the building now known as Cooke Hall. During the years between 1895 and 1898 the School was said to have consisted of one professor, one instructor, and one student. In 1905 Professor Thornton became the first dean, holding that office until 1926. He lived to see the present Engineering building practically completed, and it is most fitting that it bears his name. Within the last eight years graduate programs in Chemical. Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering have been instituted. Having once been the smallest professional school in the University. the School of Engineering recently has become the largest. Present indications are that its growth will continue. SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING