{"id":118,"date":"2023-09-26T15:49:27","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T19:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/?p=118"},"modified":"2023-09-26T15:53:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T19:53:36","slug":"history-of-the-school-of-science-and-mathematics-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/2023\/09\/26\/history-of-the-school-of-science-and-mathematics-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the School of Science and Mathematics &#8211; Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>History of the School of Science and Mathematics &#8211; Part 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">S. M. Gollmer<\/p>\n<p>This year the Department of Science and Mathematics at Cedarville University became the School of Science and Mathematics.\u00a0 Our school offers majors ranging from biology, chemistry, physics, geology, to mathematics.\u00a0 Where did this all begin?\u00a0 What role did science and mathematics play in the early years of Cedarville?\u00a0 How did it develop into the school we have today?\u00a0 Over a series of posts, I intend to deliver a select history of Cedarville University with a focus on the disciplines housed in our school.<\/p>\n<p>Cedarville College was conceived as a liberal arts college by the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in May of 1879.\u00a0 However, it was not until 1886 that this idea was set in motion.\u00a0 William Gibson, an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, left $25,000 to establish a college in Cedarville.\u00a0 The following year, on January 26, 1887, Cedarville College was chartered by the state of Ohio.\u00a0 The Synod elected Dr. David McKinney as the first president and the college opened on September 19, 1894 to 36 students.\u00a0 Dr. McKinney was pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati and came to Cedarville two days per week.\u00a0 He served as president for 21 years and resigned in 1915.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>First Annual Catalogue of Cedarville College<\/em> provides a snapshot of a liberal arts education for the 1895-96 school year.\u00a0 The original faculty were as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>David McKinney, D.D. \u2013 President of the College<\/li>\n<li>James F. Morton, D.D. \u2013 Vice-President, and Professor of English Bible Study<\/li>\n<li>Renwick McChesney, A.M. \u2013 Peter Gibson Professor of Ancient Languages<\/li>\n<li>Carrie Blair, Normal Graduate \u2013 Francis Lamb Professor of Mathematics<\/li>\n<li>Belle Beazell, Cincinnati College \u2013 Professor of Music<\/li>\n<li>Frank A. Jurkat, A. B. \u2013 Professor of Modern Languages and History<\/li>\n<li>Charles T. Schenck, A. B. \u2013 Instructor in English and Science<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are familiar with degree designations, such as BS and PhD, but what do the abbreviations used above mean?\u00a0 We are familiar with D.D. for Doctor of Divinity.\u00a0 A.M. and A.B. are equivalent to the more popular designations MA and BA, Masters of Arts and Bachelor of Arts respectively.\u00a0 A normal school graduate is trained in pedagogy and curriculum for effective teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Each school year consisted of three quarters with students taking four classes per quarter.\u00a0 To graduate with an A.B., students were required to take a year of science.\u00a0 Mathematics was also required in the curriculum.\u00a0 Focusing only on science and math courses, the following list indicates when courses were taken to complete the <em>Classical Collegiate Course<\/em>.\u00a0 (The <em>Literary Collegiate Course<\/em> required less science.)\u00a0 If not otherwise designated as elective, courses in the following list were required.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Freshman Year<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plane Geometry<\/li>\n<li>Plane and Solid Geometry<\/li>\n<li>Conic Sections<\/li>\n<li>Descriptive Astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sophomore Year<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plane and Spherical Trigonometry<\/li>\n<li>Surveying and Navigation<\/li>\n<li>Botany<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Junior Year<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mechanics and Hydrostatics<\/li>\n<li>Optics and Electricity<\/li>\n<li>Geology (elective)<\/li>\n<li>Analytical Geometry (elective)<\/li>\n<li>Calculus (elective)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Senior Year<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chemistry<\/li>\n<li>Biology<\/li>\n<li>Mathematical Astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The mix of science and math courses should not be that surprising given that Cedarville College followed a classical liberal arts curriculum.\u00a0 Beginning with the Greeks, a well-prepared person, who can engage as a leader in society, should be trained in the seven classical liberal arts.\u00a0 The first three, called the trivium, were grammar, rhetoric, and logic.\u00a0 The remaining four, the quadrivium, consisted of arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry.\u00a0 In the 1903 edition of <em>Memorabilia<\/em>, Dr. McKinney stated,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAbove all Cedarville College believes that the culture of the mind without the nurture and growth of spiritual life is a mistake.\u00a0 Education without morality is a menace to the state.\u00a0 Morality to be deep and abiding must have its springs in religion.\u00a0 Accordingly the Bible is a textbook of the college.\u00a0 No student can graduate who has not taken a thorough and systematic course in it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Today, Cedarville University continues to develop the culture of the mind in conjunction with a systematic study of the Bible.\u00a0 Our country and world need leaders who are well prepared to engage society with a life and faith anchored in Christ.\u00a0 Our prayer is that Cedarville University will have an increasing impact for Christ through our students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"History of the School of Science and Mathematics &#8211; Part 1 S. M. Gollmer This year the Department of Science and Mathematics at Cedarville University became the School of Science and Mathematics.\u00a0 Our school offers majors ranging from biology, chemistry, physics, geology, to mathematics.\u00a0 Where did this all begin?\u00a0 What role did science and mathematics&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/2023\/09\/26\/history-of-the-school-of-science-and-mathematics-part-1\/\">View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}