Graduate School records

The Indiana State Legislature of 1923, in revising the legal status of teaching certificates for Indiana, prescribed a year of graduate study for the issuance of first grade administrative and supervisory certificates. Shortly thereafter the State Board of Education passed a resolution authorizing the two State teachers' colleges to offer a year of graduate work leading to the recommendation of students for the foregoing certificates. On August 23, 1907, the Board of Education then authorized the teachers' colleges to prepare students to secure first grade certificates in the administrative and supervisory fields.

In the spring of 1932 Ball State Teachers College began offering graduate level courses. The first master's degrees were conferred in June of 1934. A total of three degress were granted that first year. In response to public need and demand, the graduate program was expanded in 1937 to accomodate qualified candidates for the degree of Master of Arts in Education with specialization in certain teaching fields. An Ed.D. degree was first offered in 1948 in conjunction with the School of Education at Indiana University. Later, in 1957, a Ph.D. in guidance and industrial education was offered in cooperation with Purdue University. In 1959, Ball State Teachers College began offering the Specialist in Education degree. A Ph.D. in Education, and Ed.D. degrees in both elementary education and social science teacher education were first offered in 1961.

In 1952, the college began offering the Master of Arts degree in several fields including: art, business, English, foreign language, general speech, guidance and counseling, home economics, industrial arts, mathematics, music, science, social science, and speech and hearing therapy. In 1963, the Master of Science degree was made available in the fields of: general science, biology, health and safety, chemistry, physics, and earth science. The first Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees were granted in 1964.

Ball State University formally established a Graduate School in 1968 under the guidance of Graduate School Dean, Dr. Robert H. Koenker, a Graduate Council, and the graduate faculty. Prior to the establishment of a school, graduate courses were offered through the Office of Graduate Studies.