Post War Years (1947 - 1959)

By 1950, the complexion of the mathematics department had changed once again. Albright retired in 1946, Sisam in 1948, and Lovitt in 1950. That left Margaret Hansman, who joined the department in 1941, and Joseph Leech, who was hired in 1950. Later in the decade, Thomas Rawles moved from the administration back to the classroom, and Wilson Gateley was hired.

Inside of Coburn Library in 1954.

The decade of the 1950's saw a national emphasis on technology education. A new statement in the college catalog reaffirmed mathematics position in this new academic direction:

Mathematics has always formed a cornerstone of the traditional liberal arts curriculum. Today, as one of the bases of our technological society, its importance in the general education of the cultivated person is unquestioned.

The catalog goes on to indicate the major career paths for mathematics majors: Teaching, Statistics in scientific disciplines, Industry research, Government, Actuarial work. Nevertheless, the all-college requirements no longer required freshman to take mathematics; lab sciences became the favored courses.

There were three notable changes in the curriculum during the 1950's:

1. In 1954, the mathematics department experimented with a course in basic concepts of mathematics including a study of proof and logic. This was an attempt to reach students in the social science and humanities divisions (no longer called "schools"). The course was soon listed under Science rather than Mathematics.
   
   
2. In 1955, Professor Leech added a course on Modern Algebra which covered determinants, matrices, groups, and other algebraic structures. This was the beginning of abstract algebra in the curriculum.
   
   
3. By the end of the decade, the curriculum had congealed considerably. In the 1961 catalog, the analysis courses were simply labeled Analysis I, II, III, IV. Gone were the elementary courses in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Further, there was the beginning of an algebra tract: Theory of Equations and Modern Algebra. Finally, there were courses in statistics and the teaching of mathematics.