1940-1949
Chronological History Home
OSC President William J. Kerr and three former regents who helped elect him in 1907 at the alumni banquet, 1932.
This photo appeared in the July 1932 Oregon State Monthly with the following caption: "As principal speaker at the alumni banquet, B. F. Irvine (left), editor of the Oregon Journal and a regent of the college under the old order, honored president Kerr (right center) and his 25 years of service to the college. Present also at the banquet were Hon. J. K. Weatherford (right), '72, venerable graduate and regent, and E. E. Wilson (left center), '89, also a former regent." Later that year, Kerr became chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. [OSU Archives #388.]
Survey of Oregon higher education conducted by the United States Office of Education.
Enrollment: 3,347.
Population in Corvallis: 7,585; in Benton County: 16,555; in Oregon: 953,786.
Veterinary Dairy Barn erected.
Reduced funding to the college resulted in:
Reorganization of the Oregon State System of Higher Education adopted on March 7; operational management of OSSHE to be by a Board-appointed Chancellor.
Celebration of President William Jasper Kerr's quarter century of service as president of Oregon State College on June 4.
On September 6, Kerr appointed as the first Chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education.
As a consequence of higher education reorganization, the School of Science (E.L. Packard, Dean, 1932-1938) and the Lower Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences (M. Ellwood Smith, Dean) established at Oregon State Agricultural College; the School of Commerce was transferred to the University of Oregon; Landscape Architecture and Structural Design in Architecture became a joint curriculum (OSC and U. of 0.); and the School of Mines was discontinued.
Institution name changed to Oregon State College by common usage; although the official name, Oregon State Agricultural College, as used in the catalogs, did not change until 1937.
George Wilcox Peavy, Dean and Director of Forestry, and senior member of the Administrative Council, appointed acting president (October 10, 1932-January 15, 1934).
The donation of 520 acres northwest of Corvallis by Mary McDonald served as the nucleus for the future McDonald Forest (currently 6,811 acres).
Secretarial Science reinstated to degree granting status, under Dean of Business Administration at the University of Oregon.
Graduate Division (George Rebec, Dean) established on September 11.
First annual Dad's Weekend organized.
Non-major departments, exclusive of military and physical education, grouped together under the Lower Division and Service Departments administrative unit.
George Wilcox Peavy, B.L., M.S.F., Sc.D., LL.D. (January 15, 1934-June 30, 1940), appointed by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education as the seventh president of Oregon State Agricultural College. Peavy was the first faculty member to be appointed president of the college. He continued as Acting Dean of Forestry during his presidency. President Emeritus and Dean Emeritus (1940-1951).
Mary J. L. McDonald Collection and Rare Book Room presented to the College.
The income of the college was 41 percent lower than in 1933.
First Ph.D. degrees conferred (three in Science and one in Agriculture) during the 65th Commencement.
Summer Session extended to ten weeks: first session, six weeks and second session, four weeks.
Recognition of tenure by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.
Professional engineering degrees (Ch.E., C.E., E.E., M.E.) established on April 22.
Frederick Maurice Hunter, Ed.D., LL.D. (1935-1946), became the second Chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE). William Jasper Kerr became Chancellor Emeritus on September 1.
State tuition scholarships authorized by the legislature.
School of Education established a Guidance Clinic.
Horner Museum of the Oregon Country dedicated on April 27.
Student Health Service Building (currently Plageman Hall) erected.
Oregon State Chapter of Sigma Xi (National Science Honor Society) installed.
Name of the institution officially changed to Oregon State College.
A fire nearly destroyed the Agricultural Engineering Building (now Gilmore Hall) on September 9 - $36,593 in damages to the building and contents. Building reconstructed and enlarged in 1939.
School of Engineering and School of Home Economics celebrated their 50th anniversaries.
New Chemistry Hall (now Gilbert Hall) dedicated on December 2.