Each year, the University of Virginia opens its arms to embrace another growing educational field. But what about the creation of the graduate schools we have now? In 1944, the University had fewer graduate schools than it has presently. The schools it did have fifty years ago, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine, have changed in curriculum and requirements for admittance since that time. These changes in graduate schools reflect the growth in education from 1944 to the present time.
Education focused on the basics like math and science in 1944, and thus the largest graduate school at UVa in 1944 was the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. "For admission to the Department of Graduate Studies a student, whether man or woman, must hold a bachelor's degree in Arts or Science" from some institution of higher learning, said The University of Virginia Record. (11) The areas of education covered in this school were broken down into three categories for a Masters in Arts degree: Fine Arts, Language, Literature; Mathematics, Philosophy, Social Sciences; and Natural Science. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences also offered a Masters in Science degree for mathematics and natural science, though it was usually for medical science students. In addition, this school offered a Ph.D. degree in Philosophy. Generally, for graduation the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences required twelve hours of foreign language (reading knowledge of French and German for the Ph.D.), successful completion of the major's Program of Studies, the "preparation and submission of a thesis," and a comprehensive exam after the thesis was approved. (14)
Though it was smaller than the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, UVa's School of Medicine was of great significance fifty years ago. At that time, World War II, increased the need for qualified physicians. Because of that need, the University was encouraged to run its medical school all twelve months of the year, rather than the nine months previously set by UVa. This reduced the medical training time to three years rather than four, which created a larger number of doctors available to assist in the war effort. In each of those years of school, medical students had set classes they had to complete in "four sessions of at least eight months each, the last two sessions of which must have been completed at the University." (21)
Today, the University of Virginia still includes the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine in their graduate department. However, over the years new schools have joined these other two. The University of 1944 did not include a graduate business school like present-day Darden School of Business; it did have the McIntire School of Commerce as UVa still has today. The University presently has a graduate law school and no official pre-law bachelor's program, though in 1944 it had a bachelor's degree in law (L.L.B.). Also, unlike fifty years ago when the graduate education program was part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, it is now an entity of the Curry School of Education.
It is because of an early concentration on the basics and fields like biology and medicine that the University has grown to where it is. From these fields, UVa has developed specialized programs varying from biomedical technology in the Engineering school to Sports Medicine and Communication Disorders in the Education school. By growing with the times and increasing the number of graduate programs available, the University of Virginia provided the means to create new theories, new experiments and new technology.
By: Jennifer Lewis