A Short History of the IUPUI Department of Chemistry.
It was interesting to negotiate the IU Extension Center’s buildings. Upon entering one of these high rises, a small foyer, with no staff, had signs directing you to the various offices and classrooms. Approaching the single elevator on the left you were greeted by an elderly, jolly lady sitting on a stool inside this "rising room," and she asked what floor you needed. Then, she hand-pulled a double iron-meshed door and proceeded to turn a brass handle to the proper floor number, and the assembly began to move — slowly. I do remember the brass handle was shiny where she handled it but was darker where she had not touched it much.
Before and into the early 1970s, the IU Extension Center lay scattered among several buildings throughout downtown Indianapolis. Two were high rise buildings (some five-story high) located where the Federal Center is today and one was across the street. One of the buildings had a large assembly room suitable for all-campus faculty meetings.
Unlike other IU downtown buildings, which have since been demolished, the structure at 902 N. Meridian, also known as the Turnverein (sports club) has remained until today. The Latin slogan chiseled into stone above the front windows, Mens sana in corpore sano, (healthy mind in healthy body) describes the original function of the structure: taking care of body and mind.
The building was erected in 1914 and in 1983 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. IU occupied this building for a number of years, and all chemistry classes were taught there. In 1970, I was assigned an office on the second floor next to a faculty member from Political Science (other subjects were taught in this building as well).
The small paved area on the north side of the building served as the parking lot for faculty, and in an old garage back in the corner, we found the chemistry store room. The basement contained chemistry laboratories (I don’t remember anyone wearing safety glasses, or certainly not gloves) and the abandoned swimming pool in the basement had been converted into a small theater.
Registration took place in a large room in the back of the building’s main floor. On the far side of the room, above long tables hung letters from A through Z indicating where students were to go according to the first letter of their last name. Long lines snaked to these registration tables where staff worked to hand-register students. An official with a megaphone gave instructions to everyone about which classes were filled and which were still available. While all this is archaic, of course, the content of the basic courses really has not changed that much — technology has.
The building had but one copy machine then called a xerographic copier (or photostatic machine), which required special “copy” paper. This machine was located in the building secretary’s office, I suppose to police access. Proper terminology about the copy process was just emerging. For example, a faculty member came in and asked the secretary how to duplicate. She responded: “Come back here and I will show you how we multiply.” I thought that was funny.
Dr. Patricia Boaz, and Dr. Frank J. Welcher, the only chemists on staff at that time, shared the entire teaching load with Dr. Boaz teaching physical chemistry and Dr. Welcher teaching analytical and organic. I have no idea who taught other advanced classes — if anyone; and I assume that lower level classes were taught by both.
In 1971, three buildings were completed on the West campus, close to the medical school: Lecture Hall, the Library, and Cavanaugh Hall. All the old downtown buildings were now vacated, and in our minds this really was the beginning of IUPUI.
Erwin Boschmann, Department of Chemistry Emeritus Faculty
Dr. Boaz had a keen mind for things analytical and possessed a particular understanding for student needs, most of whom were first time college students. Because of her sensitivity in dealing with students, she later became a Dean of Students. Stephen A. Freeland, currently CEO of Cancer Care Group, recently said that Dr. Boaz was his favorite professor, leaving a lasting impression on him. He says she was “Tough as nails on the outside and gentle as a puppy on the inside.” Her son, Joel, is a well-known pediatric neurosurgeon at Riley Hospital for Children here in Indianapolis.
Dr. Welcher (1907-2001) was a distinguished chemist with an international reputation who began his career in 1932 and retired in 1978 — after some 46 years, likely longer than anyone else!! His student evaluations were only so, so; students saying that he was a bit boring. However, he had many students writing to him in deep appreciation after they left school. “You prepared me for the world,” was a typical comment.
In 1948, he published his four-volume set of Organic Analytical Reagents which sealed his international reputation. During his career he also published 16 other books. I asked him once how he was able to do all this work since there were no research laboratories on campus. “Ah”, he said, “This is how I developed my research approach, by searching the literature.” I asked: “Where?”, and he responded “In the huge downtown Lilly library where I spent many wonderful hours.” He often spoke of the collaborative work with colleagues across the country (and around the world). He told stories such as how one scientist had lost all his data for a book he was writing, but then started re-writing again — a herculean task. In 1978, in time for his retirement, I honored him by organizing a symposium entitled the F. J. Welcher Symposium on Analytical Chemistry. It took an enormous amount of time to contact all the people he knew, to get funding, to arrange for housing, to organize the program itself, and on and on. We must have had some 40 people show up for the multi-day event, and each gave a talk on the specialty of their professional life.
After I became Associate Dean of the Faculties at IUPUI, I prepared all the necessary documentation to bestow on him the “Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Purdue University,” which was given to him by the Purdue president during commencement in 1990. In retirement, Dr. Welcher spent countless hours on his lifelong hobby, the study of the Civil War, culminating in the two-volume set of The Union Army, 1861-1865, Organization and Operations. He also published Colburn’s Brigade, honoring the unit his grandfather served. Frank Welcher was a gentle man, and a true gentleman.
It the fall of 1967, while finishing my Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, I was invited to visit the IU Extension Center in downtown Indianapolis for an interview and a possible position. I saw the two chemists (Drs. Boaz and Welcher), Deans Jim East and Joseph Taylor, and was taken to Bloomington to visit with more people. IU was interested in me, not because I was a great chemist, but because I spoke Spanish. The Big Ten universities had just received a $500 million grant from the Ford Foundation to improve the sciences at a university in Lima, Peru. Each of the Big Ten universities was to send one faculty member to Lima for either a short or longer term. I was offered a position with IU, assuming I would consider spending two years in Lima. To me that was a done deal, and my appointment began in June, 1968.
I returned to Indianapolis from my assignment in Lima in January, 1970. We began hearing of a possible merger with the Purdue extension center’s departments located on east 38th Street, across from the State Fairgrounds, of which chemistry was one. Apparently, IU and Purdue had done a similar merger in Fort Wayne, and the two institutions were ready to do it again here in Indianapolis. Some people became quite anxious about this rumor. Even more anxiety arose when we were told that Dean Ned Shrigley was about to announce the results of his search for a chair for the two, now joint, chemistry departments. When that new chair, Dr. Wilmer Fife, arrived from Muskingum College (Ohio), and began interacting with chemists on both sides, IU and Purdue, anxieties subsided and soon vanished completely. At 38th Street, I met Ted Cutshall, Peter Rabideau, Peter Gebauer, Clyde Metz, and, in 1975, Marty O’Donnell, all in the Purdue Chemistry Department.
In 1971, three buildings were completed on the west campus, close to the medical school: Lecture Hall, the Library, and Cavanaugh Hall. All the old downtown buildings were now vacated, and in our minds this really was the beginning of IUPUI, though the agreement had been signed in 1969. However, implementation took longer. Chemistry moved into the north end of the third floor of Cavanaugh Hall. What a luxurious environment that was! Brand new laboratories, offices, even a small built-in research space in my office at CA 317. All lower level chemistry courses were taught in the adjacent Lecture Hall, and the laboratories were conducted in Cavanaugh Hall.
At the same time, courses for the majors, the chemistry office, the chair, the former Purdue faculty all remained at the 38th Street campus. The three of us from the IU side stayed “West” although I had an office on each campus and travelled the five miles between campuses on a routine basis, as I taught on both campuses.
Some 20 years later, in 1991-93, the present SL and LD buildings were completed and all chemistry from Cavanaugh and 38th Street was moved to these new "downtown" facilities. I have always thought that the LD building ought to be named the Frank J. Welcher Building. Maybe someday!
Story courtesy of:
Erwin Boschmann
Department of Chemistry Emeritus Faculty
