The College Matures 1920-1930
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from the experiences of women students today. Hopefully, women of today find much more opportunity to move up the professional ladder than was possible in Sally’s time frame. As the first engineering student to be elected Queen, it must have been pleasing for Sally Collier to learn that now only engineering students are eligible to be candidates, and often, a woman has been elected to be St. Pat. The University and the College had grown and matured during the 1920s. Graduates were taking their places and providing leadership not only for the growing industry and state agencies in Oklahoma, but also in major industrial firms and government agencies throughout the nation. Not only were OU Engineering graduates providing the technical leadership for the rapid expansion of the petroleum industry, they were playing major roles in the development of utilities, highways, construction, and manufacturing. The College of Engineering awarded 21 degrees in 1920, ten years later in 1930, the number awarded was 88. There had been 15 members of the Engineering faculty in 1920; in 1930, the number had increased to 28. It is obvious that the teaching load had increased, and some research had been undertaken, yet the faculty still seemed to take time for a personal caring relationship with the engineering students. The decade ended with the crash of the stock market. The shock waves were quick to arrive in Oklahoma as the major Eastern corporations, such as General Electric and Westinghouse, reacted by not recruiting engineering graduates. Soon to follow were those organizations in Oklahoma that had been looking to hire new engineers from OU.
References 1. Gittinger, Roy, The University of Oklahoma - 1892-1942, The University of Oklahoma Press, 1942. 2. Cross, George L., Professors, Presidents, and Politicians, The University of Oklahoma Press, 1981. 3. Bizzell, William Bennett, The Relations of Learning, The University of Oklahoma Press, 1934. 4. Sooner Yearbooks, 1920-1930, The University of Oklahoma Archives. 5. The University of Oklahoma Catalog, 1920-1930, The University of Oklahoma Archives.