College Growth and Seymour Plan
The 1920s saw the birth of the Teachers’ College, but also the growth of existing colleges and the birth of a school.
College of Business Administration: The number of students in the college jumped from 607 in 1919-1920 to 908 in 1925.
The college separated into two smaller departments: Economics and Business Organization and Management.
Then in 1926 the college added another department: business research (Knoll).
School of Journalism: 1923 marked the first year of existence for the School of Journalism. It had previously just been a class right before the turn of the century. It grew in 1915, but more people wanted more growth in the 1920s. The popularity of the program continued after its initiation as a school. The number of students involved in 1923 was 92, compared to 223 in 1929.
College of Law: Changes were made to help strengthen the college’s existence, especially nationally. More professional law professors were hired or appointed (Sawyer) and by the request of Dean Seavey, the faculty was to not only participate, but take “a leading part in the activities of the State Bar Association”. (Sawyer)
From the Board of Regents emerged the vision of the future for the University. George Seymour is famously known for his “Seymour Plan” of 1926. With the newly named “University Zone”, the University’s land extended to 17th street between R and Vine. Seymour planned out a map of campus placing possible fraternity and sorority houses, as well as laboratories and halls (Knoll). The library, administration building and Student Union are all placed according to the Seymour Plan (Peters).