From College Teacher to University Scholar: the Evolution and Professionalization of Academics At the University of Michigan, 1841-1900. (Volumes I - II).

This is a study of the nineteenth-century academic faculty at the University of Michigan, employing traditional methods of intellectual and cultural historical inquiry as well as quantitative analysis. The faculty began in 1841 as a small group of ministers, concerned primarily with the moral character of their students, and grew by the end of the century into a large staff of research scholars primarily concerned with their disciplines and the value of those disciplines to society. The early University of Michigan was heavily influenced by the Yale Report of 1828, but also reflected the practical needs of the newly-founded state with its concerns for the natural sciences. The early history of the university indicates that the Yale Report, although important in molding the antebellum college, was not the definitive statement of educational ideology. Investigation of the educational ideologies of the early presidents of the university highlights the diversity of educational missions undertaken. Henry Philip Tappan introduced ideals of German positivistic research as early as 1852, while Erastus Haven emphasized utilitarian education and James Angell preached Christian humanism into the twentieth century. Chapter IV examines the forces leading to expansion of faculty--increasing student enrollments as well as shifting faculty responsibilities and organization. New patterns of state funding evolved to support the increasingly complex university. New departments emerged and a complex hierarchical structure developed. Detailed study of the research and professional interests of the faculty in the biological sciences, social sciences, and classical languages reveals a pattern of steady scholarly activity from mid-century, but with a shifting focus. Early idealism was replaced by practical and reformist-minded inquiry which in turn gave way to more abstract, positivistic research. The role of individuals in shaping the research thrust was important, but the overall dynamic was shaped by currents outside the university community as well. Analysis of the social origins of the faculty reveals that, despite the meritocratic values adhering to the professional ideology, the faculty became more socially homogeneous between mid-century and 1900. Men descended from old English families, generally Presbyterian, Congregationalist, or, to a lesser extent, Episcopalian, with fathers who themselves were practitioners of the traditional professions, predominated. Chapter VI develops a quantitative index of faculty professionalism based on educational credentials, publications, specialization and participation in professional associations. Increasing faculty professionalism over the century reflected the rise of the Ph.D. and the specialization permitted by expansion. The rate of publication remained rather steady from the 1850's, although new opportunities for participation in professional associations emerged as the individual disciplines defined their memberships. The new emphasis on disciplines and the increasing sense that the university had a special role in advancing knowledge led to a new academic identity, a new sense that faculty, who belonged to diverse professions defined by their individual disciplines, also belonged to a common community. The university became the citadel of the rational, scientific optimism of turn-of-the-century America, and academic therefore had a special role in society.PhDEducation historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/158235/1/8116219.pd