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The 1950s
True to the college’s mission of combining technology and education, NYIT introduced “teaching machines” in the 1950s. These devices were the forerunners to the modern-day desktop computers found in NYIT classrooms today. |
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The year was 1955. James Dean was heating up the silver screen in “Rebel Without a Cause,” polio shots were given in schools for the first time, the Ford Thunderbird was selling for just under $3,000 without options, and NYIT opened its first campus at 500 Pacific Street in Brooklyn, N.Y., with nine students.
And while the business failure rate in the United States that year was 41.1 percent, that did not stop the founders of NYIT and particularly its first president, Alexander Schure, Ph.D., Ed.D., from fulfilling the dream of opening a career-oriented, nonprofit college to provide students with the skills necessary to succeed in their chosen careers.
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The function of higher education was highly debated at the time. There was growing concern that American schools and colleges were failing to meet critical national demands, particularly the need for scientists, engineers and high-level technicians. This anxiety, in turn, generated another concern – fear that humanities studies would become overshadowed by an emphasis on science and engineering.
NYIT’s first administrators created a balance, a successful coexistence of career training and liberal arts education.
1955 was also the year Rosa Parks, a 43-year-old black seamstress from Alabama, refused to give her seat on a bus to a white man and was arrested. Racial tensions raged, and educational debates were not just about what should be studied – they also focused on who should be studying.
Leaders of the college took an early stand, committing NYIT to a policy of access. In addition to opening the doors widely to high school graduates who wanted to attend, NYIT created an extensive range of student services to help ensure the college’s success.
The career-focused mission of the school and its access to opportunity policy were well-received in the marketplace, resulting in rapid enrollment growth. By the 1958-59 academic year, NYIT had more than 300 students and the time had come to expand its physical operations.
In April 1958, the college purchased the former Knights of Pythias building at 135-145 W. 70th St. in Manhattan for its main center. But NYIT did not abandon |
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The first NYIT Founders Dinner was held in 1958. Among those who received awards for their contributions to the advancement of technology was Lyndon B. Johnson, then a U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Committee on Space and Astronautics. He gave a radio address that was broadcast live around the world.
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Brooklyn as the Dodgers did when they moved to Los Angeles that year. NYIT’s Brooklyn building soon became home to the college’s division of general studies.
The Manhattan building, adjacent to the planned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, was an ornate 12-story structure with a columned entranceway. Built in 1929 at a cost of $2 million, it included among its features a huge 1,200-seat auditorium.
An NYIT computer science student learns using an IBM Data Processing System. Note the 1950s model “word processor” next to him. |
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Francis Carlson (A.A.S. ’59) made the move with NYIT. He remembers walking around the “new” building and seeing the Knights’ spears and cloaks. An electronics major, he also recalls the building had some of its original Edison wiring. The unique setting aside, Carlson says, “It was an excellent education.”
On June 26, 1959, NYIT awarded its first degree to William Alexander Bogdan (A.A.S. ’59). Carlson received his diploma during that same ceremony.
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As NYIT settled into its new home, the United States entered the space age with the successful launch of the Explorer 1 satellite. Also during this time, the microchip was invented, Jim Henson created “The Muppets,” and America’s love of the television continued to grow with TV sets in more than 45 million households.
With technology and communications changing at lightning speed, NYIT’s faculty designed curricula to ensure that students were prepared for the changing marketplace. Students were encouraged to use TV as a medium, and it wasn’t long until the college purchased its first “modern” mobile TV unit. In 1959, NYIT took its commitment to technology even further, introducing “teaching machines” for student instruction in physics, electronics and mathematics.
One of these early machines was a film projector that displayed problems on a screen and allowed students to choose an answer by pushing a button. Depending on what button they pushed, students would be presented with different screens explaining whether they were right or wrong and why.
John Castellano (A.A.S. ’62, B.S. ’63) remembers a room full of these machines. “Mind you, this was in the era of slide rules. There were no computers or even hand-held calculators. Way ahead of its time? You bet!” |
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As NYIT’s first president, Alexander Schure, Ph.D., Ed.D., helped formulate the college’s mission of providing career-oriented, professional education, access to opportunity for all qualified students, and applications-based research that benefits the entire world. The dedication to this mission is still alive and well at NYIT in 2005.
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