Dr. Gertrude Braun (interview); Creator: Braun, Dr. Gertrude; Interviewer(s): Ed Miller and Don DeGuzman; Interview location: Midtown Campus; Running time: 55 min., Apr 27, 1992

Coverage: 1945-1982
Topics discussed : (side A): "Nature of Man"; there is value in having elective core requirements; it was fixed and everybody had to go through it; faculty had to focus on it; wasn't structure on a specific course; Western couldn't do such a program now (too big and spread out); WestConn's core curriculum; typical of most colleges; usually stayed conservatively in middle of road in requirements; it's been one of its strengths; move away would be devastating; Programs that should return to WestConn; didn't lose many things other colleges lost; less of the "cafeteria" approach to the liberal arts; budget reasons may bring it back; Budgetary problems; the future of Western speaks of the "plush" past; heavy cost of faculty and loss of clerical and maintenance; letting people go and cutting of jobs; faculty not fired yet, but many lost to retirement; Curricular Committee; Music program; around 1945, State Teacher's Colleges were under the State Board of Education; decided each school needed a specialized program; DSTC got teacher preparation in music; Dr. Haas made request for the program; New Haven got physical education and art; Agenda of Curriculum Committee; she began as chairman of committee in 1950s; all committee members appointed in the beginning; Popularity of the Curriculum Committee; everyone wanted to be on the committee; "Nature of Man" came out of the committee; "like one large faculty meeting"; Change in the committee; elections to the committee instead of appointment; different schools/programs being added to committee; she had veto power as chairman, not sure if chair still holds that power; Growth of Western (1960s); transition from teacher's college to state college; the spread of various types of majors (liberal arts, nursing, etc.); moved from music ed to offering bachelor in music degree; University of Bridgeport; making same move as Western at same time, but had problems; Growth of the CSU system; Central had preeminence; up until 1938, Central was only school offering bachelor's degree; Western, Southern, and Eastern were gradually accepted; she was a graduate of New Haven (SCSU); as a student knew all four presidents of the 4 schools; Normal School history; CT followed Massachusetts; Central was the first of the schools; schools were small at first; Evolution of the schools; from Normal Schools to State Teacher's Schools to State Colleges then to State Universities; WestConn compared to the other CSU schools; each has their own identity; Eastern lives in shadow of the university (UConn); Western lives in shadow of private education belief; Central and Southern have bulk of population to attract students; sports gave both name recognition; University name; name given to each by the state; only way to separate the 4 is by act of state legislation; Competitiveness of the colleges; any desire to compete w/ UConn would be from Central; depends on personality of the president (knows presidents at Western and Southern); Dr. Jorgensen; transferred UConn from a agricultural school into the university it became; Presidents of WestConn; current search for a new president; Dr. Feldman; not charismatic; Dr. Haas; greatly respected and loved by everybody; first woman president of a state college in the country; not charismatic, but had ability to move crowds; the college was her life; Buildings of campus; Old Main was first w/ Fairfield Hall following; Higgins Hall came in three phases; Berkshire, followed by addition to Fairfield and Higgins; Memorial Hall came, followed by Litchfield; Library followed by Newbury; Library; was on 2nd and 3rd floor of Old Main when she got to WestConn; she had hoped that it could be preserved and used later because of the beautiful woodwork; White Hall; the purchase was a mistake; had they not purchased it, college would have moved to Westside; would have sold the campus; Westside; land purchased after the purchase of White Hall; plan on buying White Hall would be to buy land in midtown area; when land was purchased, intent was to move entire campus there (side B): State Commission on Higher Education; made to keep the midtown campus alive; move to maintaining split campus; Roberts Ave School; owned and built by city, run by WestConn as a lab school; WestConn will probably eventually purchase the school; it opened in 1954; Westside classroom building; opened in January 1982; she organized the opening of it and moving of faculty into it; intended to be used for another purpose (observational science); not suppose to be first building, suppose to be second building; not sure how decision made to make that the building that got built; Public Works Dept. in Hartford made most of the final decisions; Programs and departments of Westside; business, education, and computer science of math department