- 1901-1911
- The State legislature founded the California Polytechnic School with the express
stipulation that it stress
- agricultural and vocational training. Leroy Anderson, the first director of the school,
by emphasizing
- earning while learning and learning by doing set the basic philosophy. During this first
decade the student
- body of the Polytechnic increased from 16 to 176.
- 1911-1921
- World War I affected the institution considerably as military training became compulsory
for all men
- students – a ruling remaining in effect until 1932 – and 147 Polyites joined
the armed services. Added to
- the curriculum were courses in farm machinery and auto mechanics, and a new Academic
Department was
- created.
- 1921-1931
- Early in the 1920’s the legislature placed the institution under the direct
supervision of the State
- Superintendent of Public Instruction. During the middle years of this decade, enrollment
exceeded 400, six
- additional major buildings appeared, the project system commenced, printing was included
in the
- curriculum, and the Polytechnic became a six-year institution with the addition of a
junior college division.
- 1931-1941
- The California Polytechnic barely survived the economic depression of the early
1930’s. Not content with
- drastically slashing the school budget, the legislature seriously considered abolishing
the institution
- entirely. Then in 1933, with the enrollment having fallen to fewer than 100 students,
Julian A. McPhee,
- Chief of the California Bureau of Agricultural Education, agreed to take over presidency
of the
- Polytechnic, now reorganized along vocational lines as a two-year technical institute.
- 1941-1951
- By 1942, the Polytechnic had become a four-year college granting bachelor of science
degrees in
- agriculture and in engineering. During World War II the campus was the site of a Naval
Flight Preparatory
- School from which more than 3600 naval aviation cadets were graduated. The first five
postwar years saw
- tremendous gains for the college in curricular offerings, physical plant and enrollment.
Creation of a new
- Science and Humanities Division considerably widened the curriculum. Enrollment reached
the 2,900
- mark.
- 1951-1961
- Expansion and change were the keynotes of the decade 1951-1961. Highlights include
addition of
- numerous academic buildings and of residence halls, doubling of the staff, admittance
once again after a
- lapse of some thirty years of co-eds, a Masters of Arts program in education, new
majors, and a four-year
- ROTC program.