Indiana University. Division of University Extension

The Indiana University Extension Division was established in 1912. In 1946, it became part of the Division of Adult Education and Public Services and in 1957, it became the Division of University Extension.

Talk of an extension division at IU first began in the 1890s after IU history professor Dr. Albert J. Woodburn attended an 1890 a meeting of educators in Philadelphia and returned convinced that Hoosiers would profit from a university extension program in their state. An Extension Division was established in 1912, and funding came the following year with an increased mill tax levy for higher education. In 1914, IU president William Lowe Bryan appointed Professor John J. Pettijohn the first director of the Extension Division.

The first center was organized in Indianapolis in 1916, followed by centers in Fort Wayne (1917), Gary (1922), Calumet (1932), South Bend Mishawaka (1933), Southeastern (1941), and Kokomo (1945). Partnerships with Earlham College in Richmond and Vincennes University were set up in 1946 and 1950 respectively.

In 1939, Donald F. Carmony became the first full time faculty member at the Fort Wayne Center, and in 1944 he was appointed director of the South Bend Extension Center where he served until 1950. During the six years of his tenure at South Bend, he emphasized expansion of the full time teaching faculty and development of a library. He also oversaw a large increase in enrollment with the Center going from merely 562 students in 1944 to 1,370 by 1950.

In 1950, Prof. Carmony was called back to Bloomington to head up the Extension Division as Associate Dean working with Assistant Dean H.W. Norman. Upon his departure in February of 1959, Dr. Smith Higgins then director of the Kokomo Center took over the duties of associate dean.

During Prof. Carmony's nine years as Associate Dean of the University Extension Division he again presided over a large increase in student enrollment, from 8,146 in the fall of 1950 to 14,996 by the time he left. Carmony also lead the Division's successful push to become nationally recognized, and by 1960 it was ranked one of the top four such programs in the country.

The Division of University Extension was renamed the Division of Regional Campuses in 1962 to more clearly associate the centers with IU. Three years later President Elvis J. Stahr announced plans to institute four-year degree programs at the South Bend and Northwest campuses, and in 1967 the first regional campus graduations were held at South Bend and Southeast. Masters degree programs were announced in 1968, and in 1969 the division was renamed once again, becoming Regional Campus Administration.