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The department’s academic programs have undergone some radical changes, not all of which were in response to advancements in technology. From the first program established by Dr. Patton to that which existed in 1953, one can detect a trend toward a unit dedicated to the training of personnel for the petroleum industry rather than an academic unit in which the fundamentals of the science were stressed. The college bulletins of the period indicate extreme specialization in the areas of petroleum geology and sedimentation. Under Dr. Wade’s direction, a policy of providing fewer courses and stressing the basic principles of geology and geophysics was established. Dr. Wade reactivated the seismological observatory in 1955, and the geophysics program was launched in 1956 by addition to the staff of a qualified seismologist, Deskin Shurbet. The doctoral program was reactivated in 1963; it had been suspended in 1954 at Dr. Wade’s request because of his belief that the program of that time did not justify granting of the doctoral degree. One person received the doctoral degree under the old program, and the first graduate of the new program received his degree in August 1968.
With the arrival of Dr. Donald Haragan in 1969, a new aspect of the department programs began: atmospheric science. (Some research on dust storms had been published in the 1950’s by Sidwell and Warn.) Over the next three decades, new faculty were slowly added and collaboration with structural engineers led to the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center. (See the chronology on the Atmospheric Science Group web link, http://www.atmo.ttu.edu.)
Field Camp c. 1940's.
On a mountain road to Cloudcroft, NM, 1927
One basic premise of departmental operation that has not changed since Dr. Patton assumed his duties is that all students within the department should receive extensive training in field methods of investigation. Dr. Patton was a dedicated field geologist and those who have followed him have had no reason to change this aspect of the academic programs. The department maintained a summer program for field instruction until 19XX; bases of operation that have been used include Capitan and Las Vegas in New Mexico, Junction and Alpine, Texas, and Salida, Colorado. Advanced field camps were conducted in the Moab, Utah area, but the availability of summer employment in the petroleum industry reduced the number of students taking graduate work during the summer sessions to a level below which such operations were feasible.
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