University Archives - OU History

Early OU History: Staffing and Buildings

The first chancellor

During the negotiations between MSU and the Wilsons, Durward B. Varner was MSU Vice-President for off-campus education and legislative relations.

He saw the potential in the creation of the new Oakland university and chose to become its first Chancellor.

The first full-time employee

The first full time employee of the new university was George Karas.

Karas was first hired by Mrs Wilson to oversee the buildings and grounds of Meadow Brook estate and then became MSUO’s supervising engineer.

The first classes

The very first courses – under the direction of Lowell Eklund, head of MSUO’s continuing education program – were offered in Fall 1958.

These were continuing education courses in home economics, history, sociology, English and basic college subjects, held in a building of the Meadow poultry farm. For that reason, the first classrooms were nicknamed the "Poultry Parlors."¹

Mrs Wilson even enrolled in the speed reading class.²

The first building

During a tour of Meadow Brook Farms it was decided that the first building on campus would be erected on the western side of the estate, in what was then pasture land for Mr. Wilson’s Belgian horses. This was chosen because:

• The area had 150 acres of buildable land, and an additional 100 acres were accessible to the east along what was then Pontiac Road.
• It was anticipated that the largest number of students would be approaching from the west and south.
• A new interstate highway – I-75 – would be running between the Meadow Brook Estate and the city of Pontiac.
• This location was further away from the Wilsons’ residence and would minimize disruption to them.³

Construction on the first building started in 1958, supported by Mrs. Wilson’s 2 million dollar gift. The total cost per square foot was only $14, which was unusually low for academic buildings at the time. The building was described as a "no frills", functional building loaded with instructional technology. Each classroom was wired to broadcast or receive TV teaching.⁴

What would become South and North Foundation included 39 room classrooms and 2 large lecture rooms, a library, laboratories, and administrative and faculty offices.

Next came the student center (the Oakland Center), which was built at a cost of $700,000. It included a cafeteria, a student lounge, a book store and student publication offices.

The first faculty

24 faculty were recruited in the months preceding the opening semester.

Varner gave priority to new PhD faculty rather than practicing professors, so the original OU faculty profile was very young (the average age was 34). There was a high percentage of PhD.s at a time when the average was only about 30% at most institutions.⁵

To lead them Varner recruited Robert G. Hoopes, who taught at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford and was then Vice President of the American Council of Learned Societies.⁶

Notes

1. "Reliving the Past," OU News, May 1, 1992, p. 4.

2. "Reliving the Past," OU News, May 1, 1992, p. 3.

3. Varner to Breakfast Group, Jan. 23, 1958, Oakland University Archives, Historic Documents collection, box 3.

4. "MSU-O: A Report of Progress,' MSU Magazine, Oct. 1958, p. 16-17.

5. Cindy Goodaker, "OU: 25 years later," Oakland Sunday Magazine, Aug. 21, 1983.

6. Loren Pope, "MSU-O: A new approach to higher learning," MSU Reporter 4:1, Sept. 1959, p. 2-3.