American University introduced interdisciplinary courses in the late 1960s. One of the first was called “University and Revolution,” a three credit hour independent research course. This course was extremely popular and ran for two years. 250 students enrolled in its first semester. In small, seminar style classes, students discussed topics including the Black student in the university revolution, the individual spiritual awareness and revolutionary social vision, the effects of social revolution on the structures and functions of the contemporary university and the university in revolution centering on the university in the U.S. A volunteer faculty member moderated each of the sections. About once a month the entire class came together for a guest speaker. The Kennedy Political Union provided funding for honoraria for a diverse array of guest speakers including Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panther Party, Ralph Abernathy from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, student leaders Ewart Brown (Howard) and Mark Rudd (Columbia), and conservatives Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley. Students enrolled in this pass/fall course had to submit a research paper on their seminar topic. During the second year, the course delved into specific themes such as “White Student Movement and Black Movement: A Contrast and Comparison.” In the fall of 1969, the course leaders Gary and James Weaver, published a compilation of the lectures from the previous year.

100 years ago today American University conferred its first degrees – two PhDs and one MA. The recipients Junius Sidney Cates, Morton Oscar Cooper, and Elbert Clyde Lathrop were all employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Junius Sidney Cates, an investigator in the Office of Farm Management, received a PhD in agricultural economics. The title of his dissertation was “Some Investigations on the Weed Problem in American Agriculture.”

Elbert Clyde Lathrop, a biochemist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, received a PhD in chemistry.  The title of his dissertation was “A Chemical Study of the Organic Nitrogen Compounds of Soils and Fertilizers.”

Morton Oscar Cooper, a scientific assistant in the Office of Farm Management, received a MA in Agriculture.  The title of his thesis was “Economic study of the production of beef in the Corn Belt States.”

1916 Degree Recipients

In the 1930s, American University ran a Memorial Day poetry contest to honor the “American men who were killed or disabled during the World War.” The organizing committee requested that all submissions be “free from all propaganda, either militaristic or pacifistic.” Students submitted their poems under a pen name and the winner won a $10 gold coin. The prize was a gift of Mary Meares Galt, an Assistant Professor of French, who served in France during World War I and lost a cousin in the conflict. A panel of three judges reviewed the submissions. The panel included a member of the faculty, a student and a journalist at least one of whom served in the war.

Here is a list of the winners and the titles of the prize winning poems:

• Helen MacLeod (1928)
• S. Carlton Ayers (1930) In Memorium
• Alfredda Scobey (1931) To H.A. – Dead at Verdun
• John Lee Coulter Jr.  (1932)  Realization
• Albert George Cooper (1933) White Sentinels
• Natalie Haines (1934) Sonnet
• George Sanderlin (1935) Sonnet

John Lee Coulter Jr.

Natalie Haines