The University of New Hampshire 1955-2002: The Rise of Research (Marion James)

An irony that has been animating my reading lately:

1. During the period of Murray's tenure at UNH, the university was becoming a place where research took on an increasingly prominent role (the premise of James' book).
2. During the period when Murray was publishing most prolifically and gaining national and international prominence in the field of composition, the field itself was becoming...a field--with an increased focus on research and scholarship (and less on lore or pedagogy).

It's sort of amazing that Murray was able to accomplish what he accomplished and gain the name and reputation that he gained given these realities. This is worth more thought...

Introduction

The underlying power of institutional democratization and research growth encouraged change at the University of New Hampshire. (5)

This book charts the rise of the University of New Hampshire as a research institution in the second half of the twentieth century. (5)

The later twentieth century deserves its own telling because it was bound by a special theme: the emergence of a research university. (6)

Eldon Johnson: The Emergence of the Research University (1955-1961)

By the late 1950s, there was a concerted effort to hire permanent faculty members whose offerings would expand the curriculum and to cut back on temporary instructors hired to meet surges in student enrollment. (12)

In the debate between teaching and research as faculty priorities, Johnson emphasized, in a measured way, the centrality of research and creativity. He insisted on doctorates for new faculty members employed on the tenure track. In a 1955 interview, Johnson remarked that he favored a greater emphasis on research. In his view, faculty members should be more than transmitters of knowledge. They needed to engage in creative pursuits and have something original to say. Research kept a teacher alive and abreast of the times in ways that "teaching from the text" did not. (16)

John McConnell: Student Life and the Research University (1963-1971)

Equally troubling to the traditionalists, McConnell sought out vigorous advocates for research and graduate programs... While the university had only four PhDs in 1961, they multiplied rapidly in the late 1960s, and, by 1971, new doctorates in economics, English, history, mathematics, and sociology increased the number to fourteen. (38)

The liberal arts faculty grew substantially in the late 1960s, and many of the newcomers were eager to publish their research and participate in the new PhD programs (45).

Significant Turning Point: The Ladd Report, 1968 and a new general education curriculum.

Freshmen English remained a university requirement but western civilization was no longer required. (47)

MURRAY'S ARRIVAL:

...efforts of students to seek substantive influence met official disapproval of one kind or another. Student letters to The New Hampshire criticizing NH Attorney General Louis Wyman resulted in trustees appointing a special committee which defended freedom of the press but recommended a board of governors to improve the paper's quality and sense of responsibility. A happy result of this was the appointment of Donald M. Murray, a pulitzer prize winner, who developed UNH's excellent journalism program. (48)

Thomas Bonner and Eugene Mills: The University in a Time of Change (1971-1979)

The 1970s at UNH, as elsewhere, was a subdued time. The supposed "golden age" of higher education had become, in the words of one administrator, "only gold-plated." The university did not undertake or encourage any major innovations. Instead, it concentrated on countering negative public reactions and repairing internal damage. (61)

By the 1960s, research became an important added component to teaching and service. At this critical juncture of the mid-1970s, many faculty members had become cynical, believing that, in matters of promotion and tenure, service would play a very small part and research would come out on top. (83)

Even in the 1970s, many faculty members had only master's degrees and had not conducted much research. They were now faced with a new generation of faculty created to research and PhD programs. (84)

In the 1970s, research, especially ongoing research from earlier years, continued to expand. (89)

Illustrative of the fact that research in the liberal arts was generally an individual undertaking were the accomplishments of the English Department, where creative writing led the way. The seventies were the decade of the novelist (92-93).

Evelyn Handler and Gordon Haaland: Expansionism Returns (1980-1989)