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Los Angeles: Departments
Bacteriology
Biological Chemistry
Biomathematics
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical Physics
Biostatistics
Botany and Plant Biochemistry
Bacteriology
General bacteriology was taught as early
as 1921 in the Department of Biology on the Vermont Avenue campus, the enrollment being limited
to home economics students. Three years later, bacteriology was
offered only in summer sessions. This continued until 1933, when
Theodore Day Beckwith, associate professor of bacteriology on the
Berkeley campus, joined the Department of Biological Sciences at
Los Angeles.
In 1935, the Life Sciences Group, composed of
the Departments of Bacteriology, Botany, and Zoology, was formed
and the association existed until 1947. The department's first chairman was Beckwith. Thee major
in bacteriology and graduate courses in microbiology were announced
in the 1935-36 catalogue. The first M.A. degree in microbiology
was awarded in 1936 and the first Ph.D. degree in 1945.
The Department of Bacteriology administered courses
in public health nursing as well as in public health from 1937-46.
These courses led to the formation of the Schools of Nursing and
Public Health.
By 1941, the department was suffering from a lack
of space. Following World War II, the graduate student enrollment
rose to a total of 40 students. Most graduates were forced to use student laboratories
when not occupied by undergraduate classes; otherwise most work
was accomplished in the evening and on weekends.
Greatly expanded facilities, especially for research
activities, became available in 1955, when the department moved
into the Life Sciences Building. As of 1964-65, majors numbered
206, graduate students, 22.
In 1945, there were three faculty members. Twenty
years later, the
department had 12 members, consisting of one emeritus professor,
ten
full-time professors, and one part-time member.
By the mid-1960s, the Master Plan for Higher
Education in California, as well as interest in the molecular aspects
of biology with the resulting utilization of bacteria and viruses,
shifted the emphasis in the department for the undergraduate as
well as the graduate student. A special supplementary program provided
for those going into the clinical or public health laboratory fields
terminated in June, 1966. Bacterial viruses and genetics, bacterial
subcellular structure and function, and immunology began to receive attention equal to
physiology and general microbiology, as well as with medical
microbiology, later titled "host-parasite relations."
During this period, faculty members began to share the teaching
of undergraduate courses. source
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Biological Chemistry
The Department of Biological Chemistry was
inaugurated as the Department
of Physiological Chemistry on July 1, 1948, with the appointment
of Abraham White and Sidney Roberts as chairman and assistant professor, respectively.
Both appointees had major research interests in regulation of metabolism.
Among the early staff members were several research biochemists
at the Veterans Administration, the Atomic Energy Project, and other nearby institutions who later became full-time members of the department.
These included Robert M. Fink, David R. Howton, James F. Mead, Joseph
F. Nyc, and Irving Zabin.
Toward the end of 1950, White resigned and Roberts
was designated acting chairman. In August, 1951, Wendell H. Griffith
was appointed professor and chairman. Coincidentally, the medical
school accepted its first class of 28 students. The first-year course
in medical biochemistry was initially taught in the former Religious
Conference Building and later in the newly-completed Chemistry Building.
Professorial appointments during this period included Ralph W. McKee
(who also serves as assistant dean for student affairs in the medical
school), John G. Pierce, John E. Snoke, and Marian E. Swendseid.
The department moved into permanent quarters in
the Medical Center in the fall of 1954. In August 1962, Griffith
left the University and Pierce was
designated acting chairman. The following year, teaching and research
in
protein biochemistry received strong impetus by the appointment
of L. Smith as chairman of the department (renamed biological chemistry);
Pierce was named vice-chairman. Other new appointees who provided
additional strength in the rapidly expanding fields of protein and
nucleic acid biochemistry included Douglas M. Brown, Alexander N.
Glazer, Charles B. Kasper, Albert Light, John A. Rothfus, Patrice
J. Zamenhof, and Stephen Zamenhof. By 1965, the department was responsible
for teaching biochemistry to 72 medical students and 28 dental students.
Graduate instruction in biological chemistry began
in 1953 with enrollment of six candidates for advanced degrees.
In 1964 this program was coordinated with that of the Division of
Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry. Joint course offerings covered
the major basic areas of modern biochemistry. A weekly seminar brought
to the campus an impressive array of active investigators in all
fields of biochemistry. A graduate training grant from the National
Institutes of Health provided additional support for these activities.
By 1965, 22 Ph.D. and two M.S. degrees had been awarded by the department;
graduate enrollment included 20 candidates for the Ph.D. degree.
Departmental faculty members served as consultants
for various governmental agencies, as editors of scientific journals,
and as officers of professional organizations. Awards and honors
recognized significant achievements by members of the staff in the
fields of protein and lipid chemistry, biochemical genetics, and
steroid metabolism. Extramural research grants, annually totalling
over one million dollars by the mid-1960s, supported basic research
in the department. source
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Biomathematics
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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Biomedical Engineering
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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Biomedical Physics
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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Biostatistics
There is no history currently available
for this department.
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Botany and Plant Biochemistry
In 1919, the only course in botany was taught
by Professor Loye Holmes
Miller, who had been head of the science department in the Los Angeles
State Normal School. In 1920 and 1921, elementary botany was taught
by Miller and Frederick M. Essig, instructor in botany and bacteriology.
In 1922, Professor Olenus L. Sponsler joined the staff and he and
Essig shared three courses. Essig left the staff in 1924 and in
the same year Professor Carl C. Epling and Arthur W. Haupt joined
the faculty. In 1925, the botany staff was further increased with
the appointments of Professors Orda A. Plunkett and Flora M. Scott.
With a staff of five botanists, a degree curriculum in botany was
authorized in 1925, although botany was still an informal division
in the Department of Biology. In 1926, the name of the department
was changed to the Department of Biological Sciences and in 1933,
a Department of Botany was created. Ten years later the department
was transferred administratively to the College of Agriculture.
In 1962, it returned to the College of Letters and Science. At this
time, four academic positions from other departments in the College
of Agriculture were added and the name was changed to the Department
of Botany and Plant Biochemistry.
During the early years of transition from the
normal school tradition to
University status, laboratory, garden, and library facilities were
inadequate,
admission standards were low, and teaching loads were heavy. For
the
younger members of the department, 15 to 20 teaching hours per week
were regarded as normal. On the Westwood campus, botany was housed
in the Physics-Biology Building until the Plant Physiology Building
was constructed in 1951 and the Botany Building completed in 1959,
adjacent to the botanical garden.
The department offered instruction in anatomy,
cytology, ecology, genetics, medical mycology, morphology, physiology,
and taxonomy. The bachelor of arts degree in botany was first conferred
in 1927, the first master of arts degree in 1934, and the first
Ph.D. degree in 1946. The Ph.D. degree was originally in botanical
science, but in 1962 was changed to plant science. An estimated
total of 203 baccalaureate, 79 master's, and 94 doctoral degrees
were conferred by 1965. Throughout the decade, there was a major increase
in graduate study, particularly in the Ph.D. program. In 1965, there
were 71 graduate students enrolled. There was also an increase in
the number of postdoctoral trainees associated with the department.
In the earliest work in plant physiology, Olenus
L. Sponsler, 20 years ahead of his time, investigated the molecular
structure of starch, cellulose, and protein. The trend in cell physiology
continued to be toward the biochemical aspects of the field. In
anatomy and morphology there was a shift to the study of microstructure,
particularly in relation to function, with the use of such tools
as the electron microscope. The trend in taxonomy was from the descriptive
to the experimental with an emphasis on population studies and the
evolution of plant species. Studies in ecology became physiological
and those in genetics emphasized function and development. source
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