History of Georgia Tech/to Do - Postwar Changes and Unrest

Postwar Changes and Unrest

Includes the administration of Blake R. Van Leer (1944–1956)

Founded as the "Georgia School of Technology," the school assumed its present name on July 1, 1948 to reflect a growing focus on advanced technological and scientific research. The name change was first proposed on June 12, 1906, but did not gain momentum until Blake R. Van Leer's presidency. Unlike similarly named universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology, the Georgia Institute of Technology is a public university. Concurrent with the name change, President Emeritus Marion L. Brittain published The Story of Georgia Tech, the first comprehensive, book-length history of the school.

The Southern Technical Institute (STI) was established in 1948 in barracks on the campus of Naval Air Station Atlanta (now DeKalb Peachtree Airport) in Chamblee, northeast of Atlanta. At that time, all colleges in Georgia were considered extensions of the state's four research universities, and the Southern Technical Institute belonged to Georgia Tech. STI was established as an engineering technology school, to help military personnel returning from World War II gain hands-on experience in technical fields. Around 1958, the school moved to Marietta, to land donated by Dobbins Air Force Base. STI was split from Georgia Tech in 1981, at a time when most other regional schools separated from the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Georgia Southern University.

The only women that had attended Georgia Tech did so through the School of Commerce. After it was removed in 1931, women were not able to enroll at Tech until 1952. In 1952 women could only enroll in programs not offered at other universities in Georgia. In 1968 the Board of Regents voted to allow women to enroll in all programs at Tech. Also in 1968, Helen E. Grenga became Georgia Tech's first female professor. The first women's dorm, Fulmer Hall, opened in 1969. Women constituted 31.1% of the undergraduates and 25.5% of the graduate students enrolled in Fall 2010.

Glen P. Robinson and six other Georgia Tech researchers (including Robinson's former professor and future EES director Jim Boyd and EES director Gerald Rosselot) each contributed $100 to found Scientific Associates (later known as Scientific Atlanta) on October 31, 1951, with the initial goal of marketing antenna structures developed by the radar branch of the EES. Robinson worked as the general manager without pay for the first year; after the fledgling company's first contract resulted in a $4,000 loss, Robinson (upon request) refunded five of the six other initial investors. Despite its rocky start, the company managed to succeed. In 1951, there was a dispute over station finances and Rosselot's hand in the foundation of Scientific Atlanta against Georgia Tech vice president Cherry Emerson. Initially, Rosselot was president and CEO of Scientific Atlanta, but later handed off responsibility to Glen P. Robinson; at issue were potential conflicts of interest with his role at Georgia Tech and what, if any, role Georgia Tech should have in technology transfer to the marketplace. Rosselot eventually resigned his post at Georgia Tech, but his participation ensured the eventual success of Scientific Atlanta and made way for further technology transfer efforts by Georgia Tech's VentureLab and the Advanced Technology Development Center.

This period also saw a significant expansion in Georgia Tech's postgraduate education programs, driven largely by the Cold War and the launch of Sputnik; this effort received substantial support from the EES. Despite its slow start, with the first Master of Science programs in the 1920s and the first Doctorate in 1946, the program became firmly established. In 1952 alone, around 80 students earned graduate degrees while working at EES. Herschel H. Cudd, EES director from 1952 to 1954, created a new promotion system for researchers that is still in use. Many EES researchers held the title of professor despite lacking a doctorate (or a comparable qualification for promotion as determined by the Georgia Board of Regents), something that irritated members of the teaching faculty. The new system, approved in spring 1953, used the Board of Regents' qualifications for promotion and mirrored the academic tenure track.