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Department of Mathematical Sciences records

 Record Group
Identifier: RG-06-090

Scope and Contents

The records of the Department of Mathematical Sciences range in date from 1954 to 1992. They are divided into two subgroups. Records in subgroup 1 are primarily those of Dr. Eliezer Naddor, a Hopkins faculty member from 1956 to 1986 and Professor from 1964 to 1986, although they do contain a large amount of departmental administrative and student records. When removed from Naddor's office, these records were without order or arrangement; a series and file arrangement was imposed upon the records during processing, and the subgroup was subdivided as follows:

Subgroup 1, Series 1: Administrative Records, 1956-1986
Subgroup 1, Series 2: Curriculum, 1955-1986
Subgroup 1, Series 3: Faculty, 1966-1986
Subgroup 1, Series 4: Students, 1954-1986
Subseries 1: Undergraduate Students, 1954-1986
Subseries 2: Graduate Students, 1957-1986
Subgroup 1, Series 5: Personal Materials, 1954-1987
Subseries 1: Alphabetical Correspondence, 1957-1986
Subseries 2: Chronological Correspondence, 1954-1987
Subgroup 1, Series 6: Reports, 1957-1986

Subgroup 2, Departmental Administration, consists of records acquired from the departmental office, and is arranged similar to subgroup 1:
Subgroup 2, Series 1: Administrative Records, 1972-1989
Subgroup 2, Series 2: Curriculum, 1974-1992
Subgroup 2, Series 3: Faculty, 1956-1982
Subgroup 2, Series 4: Students, 1962-1987
Subseries 1: Graduate Students, Degree Received, 1962-1987
Subseries 2: Graduate Students, No Degree Received, 1966-1986
Subgroup 2, Series 5: Technical Reports, 1964-1986

Dates

  • Creation: 1954-1992

Creator

Use Restrictions

Administrative records in subgroup 1, series 1, and subgroup 2, series 1 are restricted for twenty-five years from their date of creation. Education records in subgroup 1, series 4, and subgroup 2, series 4, as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as well as employment records in subgroup 1, series 3, and subgroup 2, series 3 are also restricted. For details, see Regulations Governing Access to Restricted Records, at the front of each binder.

History

The Department of Mathematical Sciences had its origins in the fall of 1946, when an undergraduate curriculum in industrial engineering was first introduced in response to requests from returning military veterans, who constituted nearly half the entering class in the School of Engineering that semester. In 1947, Robert H. Roy was appointed Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and was asked to develop a program in Industrial Engineering. Roy's appointment led to the creation of the Department of Industrial Engineering in 1950, with an initial faculty of three members. The Department was founded with an emphasis on the abstract study of complex operational systems in people and machines, rather than the more utilitarian studies which had characterized other engineering curricula. Accordingly, the first two years of the undergraduate program provided basic training in chemistry, physics, mathematics and the principles of accounting, while the third and fourth years concentrated on industrial organization, production methods, labor relations, business regulations, political economy and psychology. The graduate program emphasized production organization and industrial-business management.

With the demand for engineering and business graduates remaining high, the 1950s witnessed rapid growth in the Department. By the end of the decade, the number of faculty had increased to seven, with their specialties extending from industrial organization and management to statistics and accounting. The number of undergraduate majors in industrial engineering averaged twenty each year after 1954, while the number of graduate degrees rose from two in 1956 to seven in 1960.

In 1964, the Department was renamed the Department of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, reflecting the increasing importance of operations research in the Department's academic program. During the 1960s, the department grew steadily under the leadership of Robert H. Roy, who served as Chairman from 1950 until 1972. When the School of Engineering Sciences merged with the Faculty of Philosophy to form the School of Arts and Sciences in 1966, the Department became part of Arts and Sciences.

In the 1970s the Department expanded dramatically, and, with its nineteen faculty members in the late 1970s, became one of the largest departments in the University. Student enrollment, especially at the graduate level, increased substantially; by 1979, there were twenty-four Bachelor of Arts, eight Masters, and two Ph.D. degrees conferred by the Department. Roger A. Horn chaired the Department from 1973 to 1978, during this period of expansion. In 1973 the Department was renamed the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and began emphasizing the use of mathematical methods to solve the problems raised by the natural sciences (i.e., astronomy, physics and chemistry), as well as the modern sciences (i.e., operations research, demography, management science, psychology, information science and computer science).

Maintaining its concentration on modern applied mathematics to the present day, the Department has developed five major training and research areas: (1) probability and statistics; (2) operations research and optimization; (3) discrete mathematics; (4) matrix analysis; and (5) computational mathematics. In the 1980s, while the undergraduate program has experienced a slight decrease in number of students, the graduate program has continued its expansion. In 1985, twenty-three Masters and five Ph.D. degrees were conferred by the Department.

Since Roger Horn left the chairmanship of the Department in 1979, there have been three successors: William H. Huggins, 1979-1980, Allan F. Karr, 1985, and Robert J. Serfling, 1981-1984, 1986-present.

Extent

25.21 Cubic Feet (15 record center cartons, 17 letter size document boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Provenance

These records were removed from Dr. Naddor's office in Maryland Hall after his death in 1987. Approximately five cubic feet of Naddor's personal papers, most dating prior to his joining the Hopkins faculty, were shipped to the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Accession #93.20 was transferred by Anu Doerr of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

Accession Number

87.30, 93.20

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Sean DiGiovanna, Yunlong Man, and Kim E. Bettcher.

Title
Department of Mathematical Sciences records
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
The Sheridan Libraries
Special Collections
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore MD 21218 USA