4 PAST TENSE The Beginning: History at Portland State n the spring of 1946 Stephen Epler got permission from the State Board of Higher Education to start a college in the Portland metropolitan area, primarily for returning veterans. Amazingly, by summer he had secured a site in Vanport, assembled a small but competent staff, and signed up over 500 students. The offerings were few in number and classes were over-full. That summer’s first Vanport student body may be the only one in which the number of veterans was greater than the number of males. The reason, of course, was the small number of females enrolled, some of whom were veterans. Although one of the original professors Epler hired was historian George C. Hoffmann, Vanport offered no history courses in the first four quarters of its existence. Hoffmann was listed as an instructor in political science. Finally, in Vanport’s fifth quarter (summer 1947), a history course appeared: HST 106, History of Western Europe (third term), taught by Hoffmann. Between fall 1947 and fall 1952, when I joined the faculty, three year-long surveys in history were offered – History of Western Europe, United States History, and English History. Hoffmann, then listed as assistant professor of political science, taught American and European history, and H.O.N. Bull taught English history. Hoffmann and Bull were both very popular teachers; their courses were always packed. The normal full-time teaching load at Vanport then was five sections (3 credits each) per term. My job interview was unorthodox, to say the least. It took place in early September 1952 on the beach in Santa Monica, where Hoffmann was polishing a brass ship’s lantern he had just acquired. At the end of the interview, he said I was hired if his superiors in Portland concurred. They did, and I started my 55-year career at Portland State that same month. My load the first year was normal for the time. Fall: 15 contact hours per week in five classes, three preparations, 266 students. Winter: 15 hours per week in five classes, four preparations, 236 students. Spring: 15 hours in five classes, four preparations, 216 students. My own maximum load was in the fall of 1955 with six classes, four preparations, and 371 students. After a five-year-long intense campaign by Epler and the staff, the State Board of Higher Education yielded to popular opinion, and on Feb. 14, 1955 Portland State Extension Center became Portland State College. But the Board restricted PSC to general degrees in social science, science, and humanities. Students seeking degrees in history had to transfer to U of O or OSU. The Board thought John Cramer, our first president, would honor the restriction, but he soon became one of the agitators for departmental degrees. Enrollments in history courses burgeoned and history professors were rapidly added. From just two in 1952-53 there were five in 1955-56, and 14 in 1961-1962. Long before it was authorized, the group was called the “History Department.” In 1958-59 the “head” of history, Frederick Cox, officially became the “executive officer for history.” The Board finally recognized reality, and the History Department was authorized for the 1960-61 year. The accomplishments of the History Department in preuniversity days were many. In addition to graduating many Portland area leaders of today, the department offered the college’s first TV course, Western Civilization, in 1960-61 (see photo). In the same year Fred Cox succeeded, after two years of hard work, in establishing the Middle East Studies Center, the first undergraduate regional studies center in the United States. --Charlie White PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. I Charles LeGuin, Basil Dmytryshyn and Charlie White on the air in 1960, broadcasting a lesson in western civilization from the KOIN-TV studios.
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