Dates in Northwest History | About Northwest

May

Day	Year	Event
May 1	1942:	The first comprehensive examination is administered to men who wish to enter the Navy V-1 program, which provides for two years of academic training before active service.
May 3	1928:	The Faculty Dames group is organized.
May 4	1860	Thomas Gaunt purchases a tract of land for $693 and establishes a tree nursery that would eventually become the Northwest campus.
May 4	1910:	Dean George Colbert sees Halley's Comet at 4 a.m.
May 4	1949:	Mr. E.A. Davis, athletics director, announces that the first tennis team in about 10 years is being coached by Dr. Frank Grube, head of the English department.
May 4	2013:	Northwest confers a record 708 degrees during its spring commencement exercises. Dr. Stuart Brand, director of learning experience at Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom, gives the commencement address.
May 6	1909:	A report shows there are 5,396 books in the library.
May 7	1928:	First AAUW inspection of the college.
May 8	1945:	A special edition of The Northwest Missourian comes out in the morning announcing an assembly to mark the end of the war against Germany.
May 10	1930:	The Epsilon Gamma Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the writers' honor society, is established on campus with 10 charter members.
May 12	1971:	Students protest the lack of organizational photographs in the yearbook.
May 13	1909:	It is announced that faculty salaries will be restored and the construction on the Administration Building will resume Aug. 19, 1909.
May 15	1906:	The first books for the library are ordered.
May 15	1917:	Mike the Dog dies, and contributions for a tombstone are taken the next day.
May 16	1921:	President Ira Richardson submits his resignation and it was accepted.
May 17	1916:	The senior play, a production of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," is determined to be "too advanced for Maryville."
May 17	1959:	The Abraham Lincoln statue is shot by a night watchman.
May 18	1915:	A four-year course to end with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education is authorized by Board of Regents.
May 18	1915:	President Ira Richardson and W.A. Blagg, president of Board of Regents, are authorized to devise plans whereby a dormitory for women might be provided.
May 18	1931:	Lightning strikes the east wing of the Administration Building, doing little damage.
May 18	1934:	The Bearcat track and field team wins its first MIAA title.
May 18	1998:	Services and offices in the Student Union begin relocating to other campus buildings in preparation for renovations to the Student Union.
May 18	2004:	The Bell Tower renovation begins with four ramps all connecting to the major sidewalks, additional benches, pole lighting at four corners and new landscaping.
May 19	1913:	The resignation of President Dr. H.K. Taylor is accepted. Ira Richardson, head of education department, is elected president.
May 19	1928:	The Phi Phi Chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority is installed.
May 19	1946:	The Board of Regents passes a resolution stating that up to 10 foreign students should be encouraged to come to the College, and scholarships for the students will be provided by Northwest.
May 21	1939:	Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, receives its charter.
May 21	2009:	Northwest's Board of Regents selects Dr. John Jasinski, executive vice president and chief academic and operating officer of Northwood University in Midland, Mich., to be the University’s 10th president.
May 22	1933:	Almost all employees - including the president - take annual salary cuts.
May 23	1911:	Mrs. Alice R. Perrin is named dean of women, and Mr. Ira Richardson is given charge of the Education department.
May 23	1944:	Members of the Student Senate, using a pyrography needle, inscribe their names on the large oak table in the Bearcats' Den, starting the tradition that those who serve on the Senate and only such others as are specifically invited shall place their names on the table.
May 23	1977:	Otis Van "O.V." Cecil, poet laureate of Platte County, presents Northwest President Dr. Robert Foster with his 384-page "Bicentennial Book of Poetry" in honor of Foster's impending retirement.
May 24	1951:	For the first time in Northwest's history, an alumnus, Edward Morgan '34, gives the commencement address.
May 25	1927:	Faculty members make their first appearance in academic dress at commencement.
May 25	1931:	The graduation fee is raised to $7.50 to include cap, gown and an alumni banquet ticket.
May 26	1920:	The redecoration of the Administration Building is completed and includes a green color scheme for woodwork.
May 26	1925:	Miss Laura Schmitz of Chillicothe, the first woman on the Board of Regents, attends her first meeting.
May 26	1926:	Frank Deerwester, the first college president, dies.
May 27	1907:	Homer Martien Cook is named president; Mr. W.A. Rickenbrode becomes registrar.
May 27	1927:	The faculty make their first appearance in academic dress at commencement.
May 28	1908:	An alumni association is organized with John Rush as president and Bessie Cox as secretary.
May 28	1954:	The first woman and first alumna commencement speaker is Dr. Mildred Sandison Fenner '31.
May 28	2011:	Seventy-four students graduate from Northwest’s Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing. In the Academy’s 10th year, the graduating class was the largest in the program’s history.
May 29	1911:	Mr. C.E. Wells joins the faculty as a librarian.
May 29	1935:	A diminished service plan is approved. At age 65, a faculty member's salary is reduced to 75 percent of that received between the ages 55 and 60.
May 29	1947:	It is announced that the dean of the faculty is required to live at 421 College Drive.
May 30	2009:	The "Vangaurd" class, consisting of 63 students, graduates from the Missouri Academy. It is the largest class in the program's nine-year history.
May 31	2013:	Northwest celebrates the opening of Northwest-St. Joseph (formerly St. Joseph Center) at the newly restored Historic Green Acres building with a ribbon-cutting, tours, enrollment sessions and an evening reception. Northwest-St. Joseph had been located in downtown St. Joseph since 2007.