Oklahoma State University. Dept. of Religious Studies.

The first three credit courses in religion at Oklahoma A & M College were offered in the fall of 1922 by the Department of Religious Education, part of the School of Education. Faculty and administrators were part-time; most also served in the Philosophy Department. The department was reassigned to the College of Arts and Sciences in 1967. James Kirby became the first full-time head and began developing a program that emphasized teaching courses from a historical and objective perspective. In 1970 the department, along with two others, was merged into the College's School of Humanistic Studies, which became the School of Fine Arts and Humanistic Studies in 1976. The Department of Religious Studies became a separate unit again in 1981. Among the projects of the department was the Caesarea Maritime archaeological dig in Israel, headed by Kyle Yates during the summers of 1972, 1974, and 1976. Others were related to the Baptist General Convention and to the Jewish Chautauqua Society.