Two years later, on April 22, 1968, the DePauw chapter of the national Society of Physics Students (SPS) was founded. The SPS chapter met regularly for the next several years, with Henninger serving as chapter adviser. Historically, however, the SPS club was not the first DePauw academic organization to involve physics students. In 1888 there was a DePauw Scientific Club followed by the DePauw Science Association toward the turn of the century. The first exclusively-physics organization seems to have been the Physics Club of 1907, presided over by Professor Naylor. Finally, from  1929 to 1937, there was a DePauw Science Club composed of faculty and  students from all the science departments. The Science Club held monthly  lecture programs which alternated among the participating departments.

The 1970s was one of the quieter decades in the history of the physics department. The only significant change in curriculum was the switch of the Statics and Dynamics courses from the mathematics department over to physics in 1979. One staff change occurred in 1971, when Sprague retired after 25 years on the faculty. Because of low enrollments, Sprague was not replaced, reducing the staff to three full-time positions. As professor emeritus, Sprague returned to teach part-time from 1974 to 1976 while Henninger, Kissinger and Henry were on a series of consecutive leaves.

Still, during this somewhat quiescent period there were several important happenings. Under the leadership of Kissinger, who wrote the proposal and directed the project, DePauw received a College Science Improvement Grant of $286,000 from the NSF. Student-faculty research projects received major overall emphasis. These projects generated student enthusiasm for research, helped retool the faculty and significantly increased the utilization of science facilities during the summer months.

But certainly, the major event of the decade for the science departments was the long-awaited opening of the $7.2 million Science and Mathematics Center in 1972. The three-story, 135,000 square foot building was officially dedicated on Old Gold Day in October 1972; the ceremony followed a major two-day symposium entitled "Man in the Middle: How Science Can Help Him," with addresses by EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus, Percy Julian, and Joe Allen, among others. As for Minshall Lab, it was decided that the cost of refurbishing the building for general classroom use would far outweigh its benefit to the university. In the summer of 1973, the building was razed (with much effort) and the site returned to its natural state.

Back to Preface	Previous Page	Next Page