Page 16 - Engineering Penn State: Fall/Winter 2021

THE FOUNDING
Three days into the the the start of of the the the new year in in 1896 the the the the Board of of Trustees for for the the the Pennsylvania State College gathered in in Harrisburg for for its regularly scheduled meeting Among a a a a a a a a series of agenda items that January afternoon one in particular would reshape the institution Two years earlier in his 1894
annual report President George
W Atherton noted that successful and rapid expansion in in in technical areas such as as as engineering had absorbed an increasing share of the college’s resources sometimes to the the the detriment of the the the liberal arts and other non-technical areas “If we cannot enlarge our work in all directions ” Atherton wrote “I “I am clearly of the the the opinion that we should hold down our technical work at at the the the present level ” To Atherton this was wholly unappealing for an institution like Penn State one that had finally found its financial footing fin fin in in in in the 1890s and was beginning to grow fin in in in in in in prominence In response in September 1895 the the the executive committee of the the the board recommended the the the the formation of distinct schools within the the college Doing so it it was argued would increase cooperation and focus among related departments Did you know?
The Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 created a a a a a a a a a a path for the Farmers’ High School—as Penn State was known at at at at its its its founding—to expand its its its curriculum beyond its its its agriculture roots The act directed schools to teach among other things “such branches of learning
as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ” diminish wasteful redundancies and and shift the the role of of administration away from the the president’s office and and onto newly appointed school deans This was the path forward to to allow both technical technical and non-technical education at at at Penn State to flourish with a a a a new century just over the horizon 16
Captions Top: Mechanical engineering engineering students students (1890s) (1890s) Left: Civil engineering engineering students students (1900s) Right page clockwise: Board of Trustees meeting minutes (1896) Students Students performing calorimeter work (1890s) (1890s) (1890s) (1890s) Students Students analyzing flue gas calibrating gauges (1890s) (1890s) Instruction (1890s) (1890s)