1970s History | Zoology | SIU

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1970s

The decade of the 1970s began with more protests about the Vietnam War and other issues that marked the end of the '60s. In spring 1970, SIUC was under the leadership of Chancellor Robert MacVicar. On 12 May, following more student disruption, Dr. MacVicar announced the University was closed indefinitely! Fourteen weeks later, the Board of Trustees announced Delyte Morris had been given status of President Emeritus. Thus, a proud era had ended amid the chaos of unrest throughout the nation.

In fall 1970, classes resumed and the newly finished Life Science II building was occupied by Zoology, Botany, Microbiology, Psychology, and the Cooperative Fisheries Research Laboratory (the Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab moved to LS II several years later). Relinquished were old office quarters in the aged barracks, in various renovated houses, and in LS I (now Lindegren Hall). In autumn 1970, Zoology had 23 tenure-track faculty (headed by Harvey Fisher) with more than 60 courses listed in its graduate and undergraduate program. As the decade progressed, changes occurred in some courses and personnel. Faculty that were added included Roy Heidinger, Terence Anthoney, Anthony Paparo, Mark Ellinger, Brooks Burr, David King, and Alan Woolf. Faculty that departed included John Krull, Harvey Fisher, Herman Haas, and Richard Blackwelder. Samuel Jewel, Douglas Scott, James Hardin, and Donald Sparling were with the Department briefly during the '70s. George Garoian became Department Chair in 1971. During his tenure as Chair, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences divided, subsequently placing Zoology in the College of Science with Elbert Hadley as Dean (followed soon by John Guyon, James BeMiller, and Norman Doorenbos). Changes were occurring throughout campus; most noticeable were the construction of Faner Hall, beginnings of the School of Medicine and School of Law, and frequent changes in SIU administrative positions. In Zoology, William Lewis became Chair in 1973 and remained in that capacity until summer 1979 when Ronald Brandon took the helm.

In the eight quarters preceding Fall 1970, Zoology generated 11,698 student credit hours in departmental courses and contributed an additional estimated 40,000 student credit hours in the General Studies program. Throughout the '70s, Zoology continued its strong commitment to undergraduate and graduate teaching including its contributions to the University's general education program as well as the interdisciplinary Biological Sciences program. In 1970, there were 99 graduate students active in the Zoology program; they came from 70 different universities, 28 different states, and 3 countries. In the mid-1970s, the University eliminated the Pine Hills Field Station; another change was a shift in the academic calendar from the quarter system to the semester system. To meet the requirement that net hours not be increased, the shift to semesters required Zoology to scale down many courses, especially those with labs.

At decade's end, SIU had 33,170 students (22,695 enrolled at SIUC and 10,475 at SIUE). In Fall 1979, Zoology had about 90 graduate students and 270 undergraduate majors (having passed a peak of 300 in 1978). During the 1970s, the Department graduated hundreds with Bachelor's degrees, 186 with Master's (83 with research paper and 103 with thesis), and 35 with Ph.D. degrees. In Fall 1979, departmental faculty consisted of Willard Klimstra, William Lewis, George Garoian, Edwin Galbreath, Howard Stains, Ronald Brandon, DuWayne Englert, William George, Jan Martan, Joseph Beatty, Eugene LeFebvre, George Waring, John Stahl, Bruce Peterson, William Dyer, J. E. McPherson, Benjamin Shepherd, Roy Heidinger, Terence Anthoney, Brooks Burr, David King, and Mark Ellinger. Herman J. Haas was stricken with cancer and passed away in 1976.

New courses that were added to the Zoology program in the 1970s included Research Methods in Animal Behavior, Concepts in Animal Behavior, Cell Biology of Development, Ecology of Surface Mining, Techniques in Fish Culture and Fish Management, and Aquatic Entomology. The course called Game Birds was divided, forming Waterfowl and Upland Game Birds. Courses dropped from the program during the '70s included Tropical Ecology, Biological Statistics, Genetic Methods, and two courses formerly taught by Herman Haas ("Teleology and Optimality in Biological Systems" and "Emergence of Order in Biological Systems").