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V. R. Cardozier provides a comprehensive and engaging look at the role played by colleges and universities in World War II, the contributions they made to the war effort, and the impact of the war on higher education institutions. He captures the wartime mood and spirit of the American people, something that is not easy to convey to younger readers who did not directly experience these times.
During the war, American colleges and universities were dedicated to serving the needs of the military and all agencies of the government through training, research, and service. The Army, Navy, and Army Air Forces College Training Programs are discussed in separate chapters. Cardozier examines many adjustments colleges made: accelerating their calendars, adapting to losses in enrollment, and changing the curriculum. Military training programs on campuses and how they differed from college training programs are described, as well as the impact of the war on faculty: depletion of the teaching ranks, wartime research on campus, and faculty in the military and government service, especially in OSRD and OSS. The final chapter examines the overall impact of the war on higher education, such as financial problems due to loss of enrollment, issues of academic freedom, academic credit for military service, the GI Bill, and changes in curricula, teaching tools, and campus cultures.
List of contents
War Comes to America
Army College Training Program
Navy College Training Program
Army Air Forces College Training Program
Colleges Adjust to Wartime
Military Training on Campus
Defense Extension Programs
Faculty and the War
Impact of the War on Higher Education
Selected Bibliography
About the author
V. R. CARDOZIER is Professor of Higher Education and Director of the doctoral program in higher education at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1970, he was appointed vice president for academic affairs at the newly authorized University of Texas of the Permian Basin, where he later served as president from 1974-1982. He is the author of
American Higher Education: An International Perspective (1987), numerous journal articles, and is the co-author and editor of the forthcoming volume Innovations in New Colleges and Universities.
