Item Detail
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11967
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0
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0
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English
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The Process of Change in Utah's Junior Colleges from 1932-1957
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Laramie, Wyoming
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University of Wyoming
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Ph.D. diss.
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'This study is about the two-year college movement in Utah from 1932-1957. At the beginning of this period, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) gave three of its two-year colleges to the state of Utah with the stipulation that if they were ever used for anything but educational purposes, they would revert to the church. Beginning in 1947 when a new governor was elected, he spent his two terms in office trying to return the three original two-year colleges to the LDS Church as well as close three additional two-year colleges. Ultimately, these attempts failed; the colleges remained public, state-supported schools. The research questions that guided this study were: (1) Why did the LDS Church seek to transfer three of its private two-year colleges to the state of Utah--to be used as public two-year colleges? (2) How did the state of Utah transform the three LDS two-year colleges into public two-year colleges, and how was this transformation maintained during the period 1932-57? (3) Why did the state of Utah seek to return the three newly formed public two-year colleges to the LDS Church? (4) To what degree did the two-year college movement in Utah (both private and public) parallel the national two-year college movement during the period 1932-1957? Because little information was available about Utah's two-year college movement, the object of this research was to document and trace the development of the two-year colleges from 1932-1957. Funding, enrollment, governance, and politics impacting state and national two-year college development between 1932-57 were traced through significant events including the Depression, World War II and post World War II. General literature was also reviewed documenting the two-year college movement in the United States between 1932-1957 so as to compare it with the events that took place in Utah. Findings include that economics led the LDS Church to give its two-year colleges to Utah and economics led a governor to attempt to return the colleges to the LDS Church, as well as discontinue funding of the three other public (state-run) two-year colleges.' (author's abstract)