HPER Home
Timeline
1946
- W. W. Patty is appointed the first dean of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. The school begins operation July 1.
- The school's academic departments consist of the Department of Physical Education for Women, the Department of Physical Education for Men, the Department of Health and Safety, and the Department of Recreation.
- HPER is housed in Mottier House on Forest Place, and contains only offices for school administrators. Courses are in buildings across campus.
- As of August 1, the School of HPER has 33 full-time faculty members, 12 part-time faculty members, and 14 graduate assistants.
1947
- Garrett Eppley is appointed chair of the Department of Recreation and continues the Great Lakes Park Training Institute.
1948
- HPER awards its first doctorate, a P.E.D., to Walter Marks.
1949
- The HPER Reading Room is established with the donation of the Lebert H. Weir literary collection.
1950
- A proposal to develop Bradford Woods as a camping and recreation center is approved by IU trustees, 13 years after John Bradford deeds 900 acres of Bradford Woods to IU and President Herman B Wells. Upon Bradford's death, IU receives another 1,400 acres, making it the largest gift of land ever received by the university.
1951
- The School of HPER moves from Mottier House into Alpha Hall, once a women's dormitory and later the home of the School of Education, making room for offices, laboratories, seminar rooms, and doctoral research.
- Jacob John of India is the first international student to earn a doctorate from HPER.
- Mildred Stevens is the first woman to receive a doctorate from HPER.
1953
- Bradford Woods becomes operative.
- The American Camping Association hosts its annual conference at Bradford Woods, where the organization is headquartered.
1955
- Camp Riley for disabled children becomes operational at Bradford Woods.
1956
- After his 65th birthday, Dean Patty announces his retirement, effective June 30, 1957.
1957
- Arthur Daniels is appointed dean.
1958
- Construction of new HPER building (then called Gymnasium Annex) begins in October.
1959
- Dean Daniels proclaims "We are in an era of research. The School of HPER is committed to a basic interest and responsibility in fundamental research aimed at developing new concepts."
1960
- The present HPER building is completed in November and occupied in January.
1961
- Participation in men's and women's intramurals totals 4,800 students in 47 separate activities.
1961
- The new fieldhouse on Fee Lane is completed, as well as the new Memorial Stadium. The old Memorial Stadium on Tenth Street and the old fieldhouse (now Wildermuth) become integral units of the school. A three-day, gala building dedication celebrates the new HPER building in December.
1962
- Royer Pool is dedicated in memory of swimming coach Robert Royer.
1964
- The Department of Recreation is renamed the Department of Recreation and Park Administration.
1966
- Dean Daniels passes away; John Endwright is appointed acting dean.
1967
- John Endwright is appointed dean.
- The Garrett Eppley Alumni Recognition Award is established.
- HPER creates the Executive Development Program, which offers continuing education to managers and executives in the park and recreation profession.
1968
- Graduate concentration in dance education is initiated in the Department of Physical Education for Women.
1969
- The Master of Public Health degree program (M.P.H.) is initiated.
1974
- In response to expanded interest in women's participation in sports and fitness, men's and women's intramural sports programs are unified under the Division of Recreational Sports.
1975
- Anita Aldrich is appointed acting dean when John Endwright retires.
1976
- Tony A. Mobley is appointed dean of the School of HPER.
- Division of Recreational Sports inaugurates the "Spirit of Sport All-Nighter" event, raising $4,100 for the Special Olympics. The event continues to raise money for the Special Olympics to this day. Since its inception, the newly named "Spirit of Sport" has raised roughly $310,000 for the Special Olympics.
- The W. W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award is established.
1977
- Men's and women's departments of Physical Education are combined. The elective physical education program becomes coeducational.
1978
- The HPER Weir Reading Room becomes an official branch of the IU Library System. Today, the HPER library collection includes more than 25,000 books, 12,000 dissertations and journals, and subscriptions to 250 journals.
1980
- HPER hosts the National Olympic Academy IV.
1981
- The Department of Recreation and Park Administration is voted No. 1 in the country in a national survey of faculty at schools that are members of the Society of Park and Recreation Educators.
1984
- Programs in Human Development and Family Studies in Nutrition and Dietetics are transferred from the Department of Home Economics in the College of Arts and Sciences to the Department of Health and Safety Education.
1985
- The Department of Health and Safety Education changes its name to Department of Applied Health Science.
1986
- Administration of the Hilltop Garden Program is transferred from the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences to the Department of Recreation and Park Administration.
- The John R. Endwright Alumni Service Award is established.
1987
- The Indiana Prevention Resource Center (IPRC) is established to help Indiana-based alcohol, tobacco, and other drug-prevention programs improve the quality of their services.
1989
- The Department of Physical Education changes its name to the Department of Kinesiology.
- Dean Mobley cultivates the beginnings of a formal faculty exchange program between Beijing Institute of Physical Education in China (later renamed Beijing Sport University) and IU in a formal ceremony in Beijing in March. This opens a door that leads to cooperative agreements with nearly 20 other international institutions in the years to come.
1989
- The President's Challenge Physical Activity and Fitness Awards Program is awarded to HPER via a contract with the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Federal Register Notice.
1990
- New human performance laboratories are completed in the space formerly occupied by the Wrubel Computing Center. The Department of Kinesiology uses the labs for research in motor learning/control, exercise physiology and biochemistry, psychobiology of exercise and sport, biomechanics, and physical assessment.
1991
- The Department of Recreation and Park Administration and the National Park Service finalize an agreement to establish the National Center on Accessibility at IU.
1992
- John Seffrin leaves IU to become CEO of the American Cancer Society.
1994
- The Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention is established.
- The Eppley Institute on Parks and Public Lands is created.
1995
- The new $22 million Student Recreational Sports Center opens July 1 and is officially dedicated in September, effectively doubling the recreational sports space available to students on the Bloomington campus. The center is home to IU's swim team. The pool is named in honor of James "Doc" Counsilman, and the diving well is named in honor of Hobart Billingsley. (The Counsilman-Billingsly coaching team produced 23 Big Ten Swim Team Championships and four National Championships, from 1961 to 1985.)
1999
- The Dick Enberg Distance Learning Studio is established at IU. The facility is named for the CBS broadcaster who earned his master's and doctorate degrees from HPER.
2000
- The Mobley International Distinguished Alumni Award is established.
- The Department of Applied Health Science's doctoral program is ranked No. 1 in the nation by the Journal of Health Education.
2001
- A group of IU students, faculty, and staff travel to China for the "Great Wall Walk" that brings together participants from the School of HPER and Beijing University of Physical Education (Beijing Sport University). The event commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the formal cooperative exchange agreement between the two programs.
- The Department of Kinesiology is ranked No. 1 in research productivity among Big Ten institutions at a meeting of Big Ten deans and directors.
- The Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming is established.
- The Department of Applied Health Science's Master of Public Health Program in Community Health Education is ranked eleventh by U.S. News & World Report.
2002
- The Department of Kinesiology is ranked No. 3 in the area of productivity and No. 3 in program efficiency in a survey conducted by the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education.
- After 26 years, Dean Tony Mobley retires with the distinction of being the longest-serving school dean in Indiana University history.
- David Gallahue is appointed dean of the School of HPER.
- HPER alumnus Dick Enberg, one of the nation's most prominent sports broadcasters, receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and delivers the 2002 commencement address on the IU Bloomington campus.
- U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, who received his master's and doctoral degrees from HPER, visits September 23 as part of his "No Child Left Behind" tour.
2003
- The American Journal of Health Education ranks the Department of Applied Health Science's Ph.D. in Health Behavior No. 1 in the nation among non-schools of public health and fifth among all U.S. schools offering the doctoral degree in health education.
- Sports Illustrated on Campus calls the Division of Recreational Sports "arguably the best collegiate recreational sports program in the nation."
- The School of HPER becomes the third-largest credit-hour producing unit on the Bloomington campus.
- Larry R. Ellis, commanding general of the U.S. Army Forces Command and a HPER alumnus, returns to IU to present the fourth annual Marian Godeke Miller lecture in the Department of Kinesiology.
2004
- The Department of Recreation and Park Administration is named one of the top three such programs in America by the Council on Accreditation, which calls the department the "bellwether institution for innovation in leadership, programming, and therapeutic intervention."
2005
- More than 33,000 students annually participate in the programs and services offered through the Division of Recreational Sports.
- The Department of Kinesiology is ranked No. 7 in the United States by the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education.
- HPER has awarded 9,424 undergraduate degrees and 7,289 graduate degrees since 1946.
- An all-female delegation of four professors and two recently graduated dance students visit Beijing Sport University, Chengdu Sport University, the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, and the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
2006
- HPER celebrates its 60th anniversary.
2007
- David Gallahue retires after a five-year tenure as dean and more than 35 years of service to the school.
- Robert Goodman, a renowned community health development expert, is appointed dean.
- HPER's underwater archaeology team discovers the wreckage of a ship abandoned by the 17th-century pirate Captain Kidd off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
2008
- IU is selected to open one of eight new education centers to support the training mission of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) at the Heartland Safety and Health Education Center.
