Timeline: 1951-1975
1950s
Three large building projects are undertaken and completed during the first half of this decade, and academic expansion follows in the second half.
 1951
The first of several building projects is completed and Fox Hall is opened for student use.
1952
Smithey Hall, the second of the three 1950s construction projects, is completed.
1953
The final of the three 1950s building projects is completed. Blackwell Auditorium is dedicated and opened.
1954
The College expands academically by adding Philosophy, Speech, Psychology and Economics departments. The division of Fine Arts is officially created later this year.
1956
A student survey concludes that the average student could expect to pay approximately $1,400 per semester (including books, tuition and laundry).
1960
$1.25 million was raised to construct Walter Hines Page Library, Haley Hall and Crenshaw Gymnasium.
1961
An honors program, a fine arts requirement and an added foreign language requirement were added to the curriculum.
1963
The College acquired an IBM 1620 computer and became a pioneer in digital computation among small colleges.
1967
Luther W. White III '49 became president of the College. There were 800 students and 75 faculty members.
1968
The Department of Computer Science was established.
1969
The Yellow Jacket football team became the NCAA Eastern College Divisional champions by winning the Knute Rockne Bowl. The Quest Campaign to raise $5 million for a science building and student union was kicked off.
1970
Following the student shootings at Kent State University, the R-MC faculty agreed to allow students to postpone their final exams without penalty so they could participate in anti-war activities.
1971
The College officially became coeducational with the enrollment of 50 women. (Women had been day students at the College since the late 1890s, when local female students were allowed to attend.) B. J. Seymour joined the faculty as the first full-time female faculty member. She was also the first woman to attain tenure, chair a department, and be granted the rank of full professor.
1974
The Frank E. Brown Campus Center opened to unanimous praise from students and staff.
1975
Penny Tweedy, owner of triple-crown winner Secretariat, told an R-MC audience that because the College was a beneficiary of her father's (Christopher T. Chenery) estate, Randolph-Macon was a part-owner of the famous horse.
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