| From
the April 6, 2006, edition of “Northwest This Week.”
Tom Carneal, associate professor of history, gives a talk in the
one-room schoolhouse that was brought on campus in 1968. Hickory
Grove School was moved to the Nodaway County Historical Society
Museum in 1996.
The following is excerpted
from “Transitions: A Hundred Years of Northwest” by
Dr. Janice Brandon-Falcone. An illustrated history of the University’s
first 100 years, “Transitions” is available from the
Bearcat Bookstore on the first floor of the J.W. Jones Student
Union. The book can also be purchased online at www.nwmissouri.bkstore.com
or by calling (660) 562-1246 (ext. 1246 on campus).
New faculty as well as students faced changes
as the institution grew. In 1952, Northwest switched from a system
of quarters to a semester system. Students began classes after
Labor Day, took a two-week vacation over Christmas, and finished
with a final exam period sometime in the middle of January. After
a semester break of a week or 10 days,
the new semester began at the end of January of the beginning
of February. …
Other changes created more difficult labor
pains. By 1959, members of a new faculty committee on rank and
promotion developed a ranking system (instructor, assistant professor,
associate professor, professor). The first master’s degree
had been conferred two years earlier, and it was appropriate that
a system of rank correspond to the new graduate classes. A full
graduate program in Education and four other areas (Business,
Biology, English and History) would be accredited 10 years later
in 1967. …
The curriculum grew with the school and included
wider offerings in Business with new degrees in Accounting, Finance,
Economics, Management, and Marketing. Led by Dr. Sterling Surrey,
the School of Business rivaled the School of Education for graduates.
… The college had an élan that came from both a young,
energetic faculty and the presence of 4,000 to 5,000 undergraduates.
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