Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies

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For history, see the finding aid for Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies records.

From the guide to the Announcements, Bulletins, Handbooks (Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies), 1883-ongoing, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)

While the University of Michigan made its first provisions for graduate study in 1845, throughout most of the nineteenth century there were few graduate students to educate. Control of graduate programs was vested in the various university departments. University President James B. Angell advocated, in the late nineteenth century, the establishment of a graduate school, and in the academic year 1891/92 his goal was partially achieved when the College of Literature, Science and the Arts established a separate Graduate Department.

The Graduate Department was unable to coordinate graduate programs outside of the college. To make such coordination possible, the Regents established a university Graduate Department during the academic year 1911/12. This department was independent of any special faculty and was granted its own budget. Its primary purposes were to coordinate graduate education and to promote research. In 1915, through a general university revision of titles, the department became the Graduate School.

As part of its responsibility for promoting research, the Graduate School was made responsible for all university publications in 1913. As early as 1920 the school's governing board advocated the establishment of a separate university press. This was done in 1930, and responsibility for university publications was gradually transferred to the Administrative Committee of the University Press. The final transfer of authority occurred in 1935.

More important than its role of university printer was the responsibility of the Graduate School to dispense university research funds. Most general fund expenses for research, notably the Faculty Research Fund, flowed through the Graduate School, as did many private gifts received by the university to further research. In order to better coordinate the expenditure of this money, President Alexander G. Ruthven suggested in 1929 the establishment of university-wide divisional committees. These interdisciplinary advisory bodies came to have great importance in deciding which requests for support would be funded.

In 1935 the Graduate School's prestige and resources were substantially increased by the bequest of Horace H. Rackham. A total of 6.5 million dollars was received. Four million dollars was put aside as a perpetual endowment, the Horace H. and Mary A. Rackham fund, while the remainder was used to construct a suitable building to house the Graduate School, now renamed the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. The Rackham Building was dedicated June 17, 1938.

In addition to dispensing research funds, the Graduate School coordinated the efforts of major research projects that were not governed by any other university unit. Examples are the Institute of Public and Social Administration (IPSA), founded in 1936 (now the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy), and the Bureau of Government, administered by the IPSA. Another example is the Institute for Human Adjustment (IHA), which at its founding in 1937 administered four major programs, the Fresh Air Camp, the Speech Clinic, the Social Science Research Project, and the Bureau of Psychological Services. In 1951 the Division of Gerontology was created under the IHA. A final example is the Statistical Research Laboratory (SRL), founded in 1946. In 1959 the Computing Center was created as a separate division of the SRL. The burden of administration created by overseeing so many large projects proved troublesome. In the 1960s the Graduate School attempted to find suitable university units to become responsible for the oversight of many of these large projects.

Another reason for the transfer of projects was that during the 1950s the Graduate School became a central coordinating body for all university research, taxing the school's resources. In academic year 1947/48 the Committee on Budget Administration of the university directed that all university trust funds supporting research be reported to the Graduate School. In 1959 a vice-president for research was established within the university, the position to be held by the dean of the Graduate School. The decision to combine the posts of vice-president and dean in one person was reversed in the academic year 1964/65. (The positions were temporarily merged for several years in the mid 1980s under Dean Alfred Sussman and then separated again when John D'Arms assumed the deanship of Rackham.)

From the post World War II period until the 1970s the federal government continually increased the amount of funding available from it for research. Most of this money, however, was channeled to scientific and technical areas. To compensate for this imbalance, the Graduate School funneled most university research funds into the humanities and the social sciences. University research money given to scientific and technical areas tended to be seed money, funds to help a faculty member perform basic research necessary to attract a larger, non-university grant.

In 1990, the positions of Dean of Rackham and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs were combined to reflect the close relationship between the Office of the Provost and the Graduate School (later the title of the dean's supplemental administrative appointment was modified to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs -- Graduate Studies). In this dual role, the Dean of Rackham was involved in a number of initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s at the university, including the development of the Institute for the Humanities in 1987 and the reorganization of international programs at the university and establishment of the International Institute in 1993. Within Rackham in the late-1990s, there was a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary initiatives, including the development of the Rackham Summer Interdisciplinary Institute and the Rackham Interdisciplinary Seminars, both in 1997.

  • 1911 - 1915 : Karl E. Guthe
  • 1915 - 1927 : Alfred H. Lloyd
  • 1927 - 1934 : Carl G. Huber
  • 1935 - 1945 : Clarence S. Yoakum
  • 1945 - 1946 : Peter Okkelberg (acting)
  • 1946 - 1964 : Ralph A. Sawyer
  • 1964 - 1971 : Stephen H. Spurr
  • 1971 - 1974 : Donald E. Stokes
  • 1974 - 1985 : Alfred S. Sussman
  • 1985 - 1995 : John D' Arms
  • 1995 - 1996 : Robert A. Weisbuch (acting)
  • 1996 - 1997 : Nancy Cantor
  • 1997 - 1998 : Earl Lewis (acting)
  • 1998 - 2005 : Earl Lewis
  • 2005: Janet Weioss

From the guide to the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies (University of Michigan) records, 1892-2010., (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Lloyd, Alfred H. (Alfred Henry), 1864-1927. Alfred H. Lloyd papers, 1879-1926. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Niehuss, Marvin Lemmon, 1903-2003. Marvin Lemmon Niehuss papers, 1923-1972 (bulk 1941-1968). Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Peter Olaus Okkelberg papers, 1910-1950 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Huber, G. Carl. Gotthelf Carl papers, 1874-1943. Bentley Historical Library
creatorOf Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies (University of Michigan) records, 1892-[ongoing]. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn University of Michigan. Financial Operations. Financial Operations (University of Michigan) records, 1890-1976. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Marvin Lemmon Niehuss papers, 1923-1972, 1941-1968 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Exhibition photograph collection, 1988 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn University of Michigan. Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs. Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs (University of Michigan) records, 1947-[ongoing]. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs (University of Michigan) Supplemental Files, 1953-[ongoing] Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Financial Operations (University of Michigan) records, 1837-1982 Bentley Historical Library
creatorOf Announcements, Bulletins, Handbooks (Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies), 1883-ongoing Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn University of Michigan assorted publications, ca. 1920-2010, 1970s-1990s Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn WCBN (Radio station : Ann Arbor, Mich.). University of Michigan assorted publications, circa 1920s-2006 ( bulk 1970s-1990s) Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Groves, William T. (William Taylor), 1887-. Site of the Rackham Graduate School (East Section) University of Michigan
referencedIn Okkelberg, Peter Olaus, 1880-. Peter O. Okkelberg papers, 1910-1950. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs (University of Michigan). Staff Files, 1947--[ongoing] Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund Records, 1929-1950, 1934-1940 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Rackham Student Government (University of Michigan). Rackham Student Government (University of Michigan) records, 1948-1976. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs (University of Michigan) central files, 1947-2010 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Ralph A. Sawyer Papers, 1918-1978 Bentley Historical Library
creatorOf Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies (University of Michigan) records, 1892-2010. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Bentley Historical Library records, 1935-2013 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Niehuss, Marvin Lemmon, 1903-2003. Marvin Lemmon Niehuss papers, 1923-1971 (bulk 1941-1968). Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Rackham Student Government (University of Michigan) records, 1948-2001, 1967-2001 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, inc. Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, inc. architectural drawings, 1936-1937. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Groves, William T. Site of the Rackham Graduate School (East Section), 1935. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Sawyer, Ralph A. (Ralph Alanson), 1895-1978. Ralph A. Sawyer papers, 1918-1978. Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Library Extension Service (University of Michigan) records, 1916-1980 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn Marjorie Cahn Brazer papers, 1955-1992 Bentley Historical Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Association of American Universities. corporateBody
associatedWith Bentley Historical Library corporateBody
associatedWith Bishop, William Warner, 1871-1955. person
associatedWith Brazer, Marjorie Cahn. person
associatedWith D'Arms, John H., 1934. person
associatedWith Effinger, John Robert, 1869-1933. person
associatedWith From Scholarly Promise to Achievement: A Selection of Distinguished Rackham Ph.D.'s of the Past Fifty Years (Ann Arbor, 1988) corporateBody
associatedWith Groves, William T. person
associatedWith Groves, William T. (William Taylor), 1887- person
associatedWith Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund corporateBody
associatedWith Horace H. Rackham Educational Memorial (Detroit, Mich.) corporateBody
associatedWith Huber, G. Carl. person
associatedWith Lloyd, Alfred H. 1864-1927. person
associatedWith Michigan Council of Graduate Deans. corporateBody
associatedWith Michigan Scholars in College Teaching Program. corporateBody
associatedWith Niehuss, Marvin Lemmon, 1903-2003. person
associatedWith Okkelberg, Peter Olaus, 1880- person
associatedWith Rackham Arthritis Research Unit (University of Michigan) corporateBody
associatedWith Rackham Student Government (University of Michigan) corporateBody
associatedWith Sawyer, Ralph A. (Ralph Alanson), 1895-1978. person
associatedWith Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Spurr, Stephen Hopkins. person
associatedWith Spurr, Stephen Hopkins. person
associatedWith Stokes, Donald Elkinton, 1927- person
associatedWith Sussman, Alfred S. person
associatedWith Sussman, Alfred Sheppard, 1919- person
associatedWith University of Michigan corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Barbour Scholarships for Oriental Women. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Barbour Scholarships for Oriental Women Committee. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Biological Station. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Engineering Research Institute. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Financial Operations. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Institute for Human Adjustment. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Institute of Public Administration. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Institute of Social Work. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Library Extension Service. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan Near East Research Expedition (1924-1934) corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan Near East Research Expedition, 1924-1934 corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Office of Graduate Minority Affairs. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Press. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Statistical Research Laboratory. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. Statistical Research Laboratory. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. University College. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. University College. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. University Council. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Michigan. University Council. corporateBody
associatedWith Varner, Nellie M. person
associatedWith Varner, Nellie M. person
associatedWith White, Alfred Holmes, 1873-1953. person
associatedWith Yoakum, Clarence Stone, 1879-1945. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Universities and colleges
Universities and colleges
Early Modern English Dictionary
Students, Foreign
Middle English dictionary
Minority college students
Occupation
Activity

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