On January 1, 1946, the Washington State Institute of Technology was established by the Board of Regents. The Institute included the College of Engineering, the School of Mines, the Division of Industrial Research, and a Division of Industrial Service. The Institute was reorganized in July l966 and became the College of Engineering with academic departments, a Research Division and a Technical Extension Service. Dr. E. W. Greenfield was the Director of the Industrial Research Division at the time of the reorganization. In 1972, Dr. George Marra moved from his position as head of the Wood Technology Research Division to the position of Assistant Dean for Research where he remained until his retirement in 1980.
The records of the office of the Assistant Dean for Research primarily deal with Dr. George Marra's tenure in that office; that is, from early 1972 through late 1978. The records are divided into two series: Office of the Assistant Dean, 1939-1978; and Office of the Head of Wood Technology, 1967-1972. Series I, Office of the Assistant Dean, 1939-1978, is divided into three subseries: General Office Files, 1972-1978; Personnel Files, 1939-1961; and Planning, 1966. The first subseries, General Office Files, 1972-1978, consists of general office materials including correspondence (both incoming and outgoing), interoffice memoranda, budget planning, minutes of committee meetings, grant information and research proposals reflecting the activities of the Research Division from 1972 through 1978. The bulk of this material covers the period from January 1973 through January 1975 and is arranged chronologically. The second subseries, Personnel Files, 1939-1964, dates from the earlier period of the Washington State Institute of Technology's Division of Industrial Research. This subseries consists of general staff information files from 1939 to 1964 with additional material on personnel with surnames beginning with "S" through "Z". The staff information files on individuals with surnames beginning with the first part of the alphabet are missing. The third subseries, Planning, 1966, includes two folders on the ten year plan of the College of Engineering developed in 1966 as part of a long range plan for the University. One folder contains the plan of each of the sections of the Research Division, and the second folder constains the complete plan for the Research Division with related exhibits. .pp Series II, Office of the Head of Wood Technology, 1959-1972, contains material from the files of the Head of Wood Technology; Dr. Marra was in charge during the period from 1967 through 1972. Series II is divided into two subseries: General Office Files, 1959-1972; and Planning and Advising, 1966. The first subseries consists of general office files from April 1967 through March 1972, including such materials as correspondence, interoffice memoranda, grant information, policy statements, and minutes of the meeting of section heads, which Marra attended as the Head of the Wood Technology section. The second subseries consists of material relating to planning and advisory functions performed by the Head of Wood Technology during the development of the Ten Year Plan in 1966. Included in this subseries are agenda and minutes of the College of Engineering Advisory Board, the minutes of the Planning Advisory Council, information about the Ad Hoc Committee which worked with the Planning Advisory Council and the completed Ten Year Plan for the Wood Technology sections.
The Collection is open for research use.
The records of the Assistant Dean in the Research Division of the College of Engineering, were transferred to the University Archives, Washington State University, in July 1980, by George Marra (MS 80-28).
The records were processed in March and April 1982 by Evelyn Rodewald.