In 1961 the curricular programs which most concerned Meteorology and 

 Oceanography Department faculty included one which terminated in a Bachelor's 

 Degree in Meteorology and a second one which terminated in a Master's Degree 

 in Meteorology; both curricular programs extended over a two-year period. 

 Officer students entering each program need to have a minimum of two years 

 of college, ordinarily, which includes physics and mathematics. Almost all 

 entering students have Bachelor's Degrees now. Graduates of either program 

 are able to fill Naval Weather Service billets. 



In 1962, the next phase in development of oceanography education was 

 initiated with the introduction of a new curriculum in the school, entitled 

 Air-Ocean Environment. This was done at the request of the Naval Oceano- 

 graphic Office in order to provide officers especially trained for staffing 

 billets within the developing ASWEPS program during its operational test and 

 afterward. The curriculum was visualized as essentially half oceanography 

 and half meteorology courses, initially. The Naval Weather Service imposed 

 a later requirement that these officers, too, must possess the capability of 

 manning a meteorology billet within the Naval Weather Service with a result- 

 ing decrease in the ratio of oceanography courses to meteorology courses. 

 This curriculum leads to a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Science. 



Concurrently, the Bachelor's level meteorology curriculum was modified 

 to include additional oceanography courses and it was redesignated as a 

 Bachelor's level Air-Ocean Environment curriculum. 



The first student officer graduates from these two Air-Ocean Environment 

 curricula numbered 25 in 1964; the graduates in 1965 will number 39 officers 

 and 22 additional officers should be graduated in 1966. Present plans call 

 for the 1966 graduates to include the final output from the Master's Degree 

 curriculum in Air-Ocean Environment. These numbers do not include graduates 

 from the Meteorology Master's Degree curriculum which has continued its 

 oceanography minor program throughout this period. 



Certain more or less external administrative factors were instrumental 

 in determining the final design for the Air-Ocean Environment curricula 

 established in 1962. These administrative factors included: (a) a sub- 

 stantial student input to the Master's Degree curriculum was visualized for 

 only a short period, i.e., two years; (b) a very short time interval 

 elapsed between proposal of the curriculum and its implementation; students 

 were selected for the curriculum only a few weeks (about six) after initial 

 requests were received for its establishment; students were on board for 

 the program less than one year after initial correspondence was received at 

 the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School; (c) there was a curious inability at 

 this particular time for the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School to acquire 

 additional oceanography faculty members to shoulder the substantial increase 

 in oceanography teaching load imposed by the new curriculum. 



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