If someone were to compare the curriculum of Trinity College from 1900 to its curriculum now in 2012, he or she would see few similarities.\u00a0 In the 1900 curriculum he or she may see a department of Hygiene but such a department would not be found in the 2012 curriculum, and in 2012 he or she may see Women, Gender, and Sexuality but the curriculum from 1900 surely would not have mentioned such a program.\u00a0 Over time, higher education curricula change to adapt to the growing and changing world surrounding it, and oftentimes curricula reflect social and historical influences and changes.\u00a0 But each institution is affected differently by different historical happenings.\u00a0 Throughout the history of Trinity College, what global, historical influences have influenced the addition of departments at programs at Trinity?<\/p>\n
From 1940 through the 1980s there were a number of major global, historical happenings which influenced the addition or subtraction of departments and programs at Trinity College.\u00a0 The major historical happenings which had the greatest effects on Trinity departments and programs were World War II and US relations with the Soviet Union, but the Vietnam and Korean Wars also had influence.\u00a0 These historical happenings had such a profound influence on the US and its international relations that Trinity College made ample change to adapt.<\/p>\n
World War II (1939-1945) had both immediate and delayed <\/strong>impacts on Trinity\u2019s departments and programs.\u00a0 The first departmental impact the war had on Trinity was experienced while the war was still in progress. <\/strong>In the 1942-43 academic year at Trinity, Trinity introduced the International Relations department[i]<\/a>. \u00a0This department, which examined \u201cWorld Affairs\u201d, demonstrates how a historical happening such as a war can immediately influence higher education curriculum.\u00a0 A few years later, in 1948, Trinity split up the previous \u201cHistory and Political Science\u201d department into the two separate departments of History and Political Science.[ii]<\/a> In Peter Knapp\u2019s book Trinity College in the Twentieth Century<\/em>, Knapp explains, \u201cA desire to effect the separation [of history and political science] had been evident for several years prior to World War II, but in the late 1940s, it became clear that gradual changes in the subject matter of the two disciplines and a new emphasis on the importance of the study of political science in relation to the world scene made such a division necessary and timely.\u201d[iii]<\/a> Trinity\u2019s students, faculty, and administration noted the impact war had on America and they changed Trinity\u2019s curriculum to keep up with the changing United States.\u00a0 World War II not only affected the implementation of departments and programs at Trinity, but their alteration as well.<\/p>\n While the war was still in progression, Trinity added a program simultaneously with the International Relations department known as the Navy V-12 College Training Program.\u00a0 During the war the U.S. Navy, having supported a large shipbuilding program, had a shortage of naval officers.\u00a0 In order to supplement that need, The Navy created the V-12 program[iv]<\/a> which was implemented in 131 colleges and universities nationwide.[v]<\/a> The program prepared its student-participants to become officers for the Navy as well as the Marine Corps, and on July 1st<\/sup>, 1943 the Navy V-12 program was implemented at Trinity.[vi]<\/a> The program called for a basic curriculum which was determined by the Navy and which had to be completed within four semesters.[vii]<\/a> The program also called for courses which were not so \u201cbasic\u201d such as celestial navigation and a number of other mathematics courses.[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n After the war\u2019s end in 1945, the Navy V-12 program ended at Trinity,[ix]<\/a> but the presence of the military certainly was gone.\u00a0 In 1944, the Servicemen\u2019s Readjustment Act was passed.\u00a0 This act, better known as the GI Bill, gave money to World War II veterans for a variety of uses, one of which was tuition to college.[x]<\/a> In the end, 3.5 million students utilized this provision of the bill, sending 3.5 million veterans to colleges and universities across the nation,[xi]<\/a> and allowing for an influx of students at Trinity in the subsequent years of the bill\u2019s passage[xii]<\/a>, enough for Trinity to implement an office of veteran affairs.[xiii]<\/a> The influx of veterans on Trinity\u2019s campus incited change in Trinity\u2019s curriculum.\u00a0 In the 1946-47 academic year, Trinity added a program called \u201cPreparation for American Foreign Service\u201d[xiv]<\/a> and soon after added \u201cPreparation for Government Service\u201d.[xv]<\/a> Trinity also added a department titled \u201cMilitary Science\u201d in 1949, but this department only lasted for one year.[xvi]<\/a><\/p>\n The combination of the termination of the Navy V-12 program and the influx of war veterans was a problem on Trinity\u2019s campus.\u00a0 \u201cAlthough the College\u2019s experience with the military had ended with the disbandment of the V-12 unit in 1945, the hundreds of veterans who attended Trinity had done much to keep the spirit of service alive.\u201d[xvii]<\/a> Fortunately for the patriots on Trinity\u2019s campus, shortly after the end of World War II, then chief of staff of the War Department Dwight D. Eisenhower signed General Order No. 124.\u00a0 This order established Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) units across the country.[xviii]<\/a> In 1948 Trinity College established its own AFROTC unit[xix]<\/a> which constituted the establishment of the new department Air Science and Tactics in 1950.[xx]<\/a><\/p>\n Separate from direct military influences on Trinity\u2019s curriculum, there were less-obvious influences of World War II on Trinity\u2019s departments and programs.\u00a0 World War II saw dramatic innovations in the worlds of science and engineering, earning the World War II era the title of \u201cthe Birth of Big Science\u201d.[xxi]<\/a> After the war\u2019s end, politicians and researchers feared that advancement in these fields would halt.\u00a0 In order to ensure that the fields of science and engineering continued to grow and advance, the federal government established the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950.[xxii]<\/a> In the 1950s and 1960s the NSF along with the U.S. Office of Education funded curriculum projects in all levels of education.[xxiii]<\/a> In 1960 alone, the federal government gave $462 million to colleges and universities for research and development purposes.[xxiv]<\/a> This funding led to an increase of focus on science and engineering programs in higher education throughout the country, so much so that throughout the 1960s Trinity classified its engineering program under the \u201cSpecial Programs\u201d section of its bulletin instead of grouping it with the rest of Trinity\u2019s majors.[xxv]<\/a><\/p>\n The NSF continued to push science advancement in higher education (and is still intact today) which led to the addition of several new science departments at Trinity.\u00a0 These departments included Astronomy, implemented in the 1964-65 academic year; Physical Sciences, implemented in 1966-67; Biochemistry, implemented in 1972-73; and most-importantly a Computing Coordinate major, implemented in 1975-76.[xxvi]<\/a> The computing coordinate major became extremely successful and eventually turning into the \u201cEngineering and Computer Science\u201d major in 1985-86[xxvii]<\/a> and then strictly \u201cComputer Science\u201d.\u00a0 But what made this department so important was its permeation throughout the rest of the curriculum.\u00a0 In the 1970s, computer incorporation throughout Trinity\u2019s whole curriculum was so prevalent that by the end of the decade the NSF \u201chailed Trinity as a model for other colleges and universities.\u201d[xxviii]<\/a> World War II had a significant impact on Trinity\u2019s science curriculum as well as its national accreditation.<\/p>\n In addition to the influences of World War II on Trinity\u2019s addition of departments and programs, the US\u2019s relations with the Soviet Union influenced these additions as well.\u00a0 One of the first influences our relations with The USSR has on Trinity\u2019s curriculum occurred during the 1965-66 academic year.\u00a0 Starting in 1957 with the USSR\u2019s launch of Sputnik, the US and the USSR entered the \u201cSpace Race\u201d which was the era from 1957-1969 in which the US and the USSR competed to be the first country to have a man land on the moon.[xxix]<\/a> Throughout the first part of the Space Race, Trinity\u2019s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps department was named Air Science and Tactics, but in the 1965-66 academic year, the departments name was changed to Aerospace Studies which incorporated traditional air science with the science of outer space.[xxx]<\/a> In addition to other factors, which will be discussed later, the end of the Space Race led to the termination of the Aerospace Studies department, which also constituted the end of the AFROTC program at Trinity.\u00a0 In 1969, the US successfully had landed Neil Armstrong on the moon and one could therefore say the US \u201cwon\u201d the Space Race.\u00a0 One year after this feat occurred and the Space Race was over, in the 1970-1971 academic year, Trinity had its last year of the Aerospace Studies department and therefore its last year of the AFROTC program.[xxxi]<\/a><\/p>\n The Space Race had another profound impact on education.\u00a0 The Soviet launch of Sputnik sent a panic wave through political America.\u00a0 America had to be better than the USSR and also had to be prepared for whatever the Soviets could do if they controlled outer space.\u00a0 The launch of Sputnik became a catalyst for the formulation and passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958.[xxxii]<\/a> This act aimed at \u201cproviding aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. NDEA was instituted primarily to stimulate the advancement of education in science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages\u201d as well as other areas.[xxxiii]<\/a> Although one would think this act would have had a heavy influence on Trinity\u2019s curriculum, that proved not to be the case.\u00a0 Because science was already being pushed by the Trinity administration due to the NSF, we cannot say for sure whether the NDEA had an influence on the science curriculum at Trinity.\u00a0 But in the other areas of mathematics and modern languages little advances were made.\u00a0 No new math department was added and the modern language department already existed at Trinity prior to the passage of the act.\u00a0 The one difference that was made was the addition of a Russian department in 1959 which strictly taught language courses at the time.[xxxiv]<\/a> Any other effects of the act were not felt until much later and are doubtful.<\/p>\n The Russian department became part of the modern languages department at Trinity and stayed there for another twenty years.\u00a0 However in the 1980-81 academic year, Trinity added a Russian and Soviet Studies department.[xxxv]<\/a> This department not only taught language courses but history and culture courses as well.\u00a0\u00a0 During this time, around 1980, the US and the USSR were not at ease with one another.\u00a0 For a number of years, the US and the USSR entered a state of d\u00e9tente, but during the Cold War in 1979, that d\u00e9tente ended when the USSR invaded Afghanistan during the Carter presidency.[xxxvi]<\/a> This combined with the knowledge of Soviet nuclear weapons created a Soviet scare throughout America.\u00a0 This scare led to the addition of the Russian and Soviet Studies department at Trinity. \u00a0You need to know your enemy, right?<\/p>\n In addition to US-Soviet relations and World War II, the Vietnam and Korean wars impacted departments and programs at Trinity, but they did so on a much smaller scale.\u00a0 In fact, the Vietnam and Korean wars did not inspire the addition of any departments or programs at Trinity.\u00a0 However, they did end one.\u00a0 When the Vietnam War and Korean War each began, Trinity\u2019s AFROTC program was still in effect.\u00a0 But after the end of the Korean War, student interest in the program declined.\u00a0 By the end of the 1960s, the program was the target of student protests on campus.[xxxvii]<\/a> By the 1970s, during the Vietnam War, interest in the program was scarce because the view of the military during that time was so negative.[xxxviii]<\/a> In the fall of 1970 it was agreed upon by both Trinity\u2019s trustees and the Air Force personnel that the program would end in July of 1971.[xxxix]<\/a> Although the Korean and Vietnam Wars were not influential in adding Trinity departments and programs, they still were influential in what departments and programs lived at Trinity.<\/p>\n From 1940 through the 1980s Trinity College embraced the global happenings which surrounded it.\u00a0 These historical happenings rocked America and rocked college campuses as well.\u00a0 These happenings were too big to ignore.\u00a0 The effects World War II had on the addition of departments and programs at Trinity were so profound that they shaped a large portion of the Trinity curriculum today in the sciences and other fields such as politics with the addition of political science and international relations courses. \u00a0US relations with the Soviet Union also will have lasting impressions on the Trinity curriculum, and the Vietnam and Korean Wars will also have influenced Trinity\u2019s history.\u00a0 It is safe to say that every department and program that arrives at Trinity or was erased from Trinity arrived or left there for a specific reason.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By looking at the historical context in which a department is placed, we can gain excellent insight as to the department\/program\u2019s roots, especially \u2018neath the elms.\u00a0 Trinity always has been and always will be affected by the world outside of its campus.\u00a0 Who knows what departments we will see next?<\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> Bulletin, 1948<\/p>\n [iii]<\/a> Knapp, Peter J., and Anne H. Knapp. 2000.\u00a0Trinity College in the twentieth century: a history<\/em>. Hartford, Conn: Trinity College., 142<\/p>\n [iv]<\/a> \u201cUniversity History–Navy V-12.\u201d University of Richmond<\/em>, 2009. http:\/\/urhistory.richmond.edu\/milestones\/navy.html.<\/p>\n [v]<\/a> Knapp, 98<\/p>\n [vi]<\/a> Knapp, 98<\/p>\n [vii]<\/a> Knapp, 98<\/p>\n [viii]<\/a> Knapp, 99<\/p>\n [ix]<\/a> Knapp, 100<\/p>\n [x]<\/a> Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. The American Pageant. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006., 853<\/p>\n [xi]<\/a> DeVane, Willian Clyde. Higher Education in Twentieth-Century America<\/em>. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1965., 124<\/p>\n [xii]<\/a> Knapp, 121<\/p>\n [xiii]<\/a> Bulletin, 1948<\/p>\n [xiv]<\/a> Bulletin, 1946-47<\/p>\n [xv]<\/a> Bulletin, 1949<\/p>\n [xvi]<\/a> Bulletin, 1949<\/p>\n [xvii]<\/a> Knapp, 143<\/p>\n [xviii]<\/a> \u201cAir Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Factsheet.\u201d U.S. Air Force<\/em>, November 23, 2010. http:\/\/www.af.mil\/information\/factsheets\/factsheet.asp?id=152.<\/p>\n [xix]<\/a> Knapp, 143<\/p>\n [xx]<\/a> Bulletin, 1950<\/p>\n [xxi]<\/a> Rudolph, John L. \u201cFrom World War to Woods Hole: The Use of Wartime Research Models for Curriculum Reform.\u201d Teachers College Record<\/em> 104, no. 2 (March 2002): 212\u2013241.<\/p>\n [xxii]<\/a> \u201cNational Science Foundation History.\u201d National Science Foundation, February 24, 2012. http:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/about\/history\/.<\/p>\n [xxiii]<\/a> Rudolph<\/p>\n [xxiv]<\/a> DeVane, 126<\/p>\n [xxv]<\/a> Bulletins 1961-1972<\/p>\n [xxvi]<\/a> Bulletins 1964-1965,19 66-1967, 1972-1973,19 75-1976<\/p>\n [xxvii]<\/a> Bulletin 1985-86<\/p>\n [xxviii]<\/a> Knapp, 412<\/p>\n [xxix]<\/a> \u201cThe Space Race.\u201d The History Channel Website, 2012. http:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/space-race.<\/p>\n [xxx]<\/a> Bulletin 1965-66<\/p>\n [xxxi]<\/a> Bulletin 1970-1971<\/p>\n [xxxii]<\/a> Sufrin, Sidney C. Administering the National Defense Education Act<\/em>. The Economics and Politics of Public Education Series 8. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1963., 2<\/p>\n [xxxiii]<\/a> \u201cNational Defense Education Act \u2014 Infoplease.com.\u201d Infoplease<\/em>, 2005. http:\/\/www.infoplease.com\/ce6\/society\/A0834940.html.<\/p>\n [xxxiv]<\/a> Bulletin 1959<\/p>\n [xxxv]<\/a> Bulletin 1980-1981<\/p>\n [xxxvi]<\/a> Kennedy, 964<\/p>\n [xxxvii]<\/a> Knapp, 387<\/p>\n [xxxviii]<\/a> Knapp, 143<\/p>\n [xxxix]<\/a> Knapp, 387<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If someone were to compare the curriculum of Trinity College from 1900 to its curriculum now in 2012, he or she would see few similarities.\u00a0 In the 1900 curriculum he or she may see a department of Hygiene but such a department would not be found in the 2012 curriculum, and in 2012 he or … Continue reading Global, Historical Influences from 1940 through the 1980s on the Addition of Departments and Programs at Trinity College<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2551,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions\/2551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
[i]<\/a> \u201cTrinity College Hartford, Connecticut Bulletin\u201d, 1942-1943<\/p>\n