100 years of knowledge
The College of Arts and Science celebrates a centennial
Back in 1907, when Mizzou’s largest unit changed its name from the somewhat generic Academic Department to the more ambitious College of Arts and Science, things around town and at Mizzou were more than a little different than they are today.
In 1907, the University’s overall enrollment had just reached 2,000, as opposed to the 28,000-plus students today (nearly 9,000 of those in the college). Back then, the city had finally paved its first street, and the University’s first phone had been installed just six years earlier. Now, it’s rare to see a student walking around campus or down a Columbia street without a cell phone flipped open or at the ready.
Some things haven’t changed, though. As the College of Arts and Science celebrates 100 years, it is still Mizzou’s largest academic unit. In fact it’s the largest college in the state of Missouri, with 450-plus tenured and tenure-track faculty and 34 academic departments, programs, schools and divisions offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in everything from the fine arts to the hard sciences.
The college marked the anniversary during the yearly Arts and Science Week, Feb. 12-16, and will continue to do so at other events throughout the year. A&S Week events included a presentation by world-renowned cancer researcher and 2006 Mizzou hire Fred Hawthorne; the presentation of the college’s teaching awards; a talent show; and the yearly Arts and Science Banquet. A full list of events and more centennial information is available on the centennial site. Deborah Huelsbergen, associate professor of art, designed the centennial artwork, shown above and called the “A&S Muse.”
Here are a few of the many key moments in the last 100 years of history for the college and Mizzou in general (complete timeline here):
1907: Academic Department, the University’s largest unit, becomes the College of Arts and Science.
1911: Music department established.
1924: $125,000 Chemistry Building built and later named for Professor Herman Schlundt.
1929: First Arts and Science Week celebrated.
1969: Arvarh Strickland, in history, becomes first African-American professor at Mizzou.
1988: Dean Milton Glick places a networked computer in the office of every college faculty member.
2007: The College of Arts and Science celebrates 100 years.
Some information for this article comes from centennial coverage in the College of Arts and Science’s Mosaics magazine.
This photo shows a class in elocution, a popular subject in the College of Arts and Science in the early 1900s.