University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Department of Secondary Education | University of Illinois Archives

In 1962, the Dean and the Executive Committee of the College of Education recommended that their School be reorganized into seven departments. The Secondary and Continuing Education Department became one of the seven departments.¹ In 1973, the department changed its name to the Department of Secondary Education. In 1989, the College of Education recommended that the Departments of Elementary and Early Childhood Education and Secondary Education be merged to form the new Department of Curriculum and Instruction to be effective in Fall of 1989.² The purpose of the merger was given in the agenda for the meeting of the Senate. According to the agenda, the merger was to create a core of common courses and to use faculty resources more effectively. It was anticipated that the new departmental structure would focus more clearly on and value the preparation of practitioners and that it would bring together the financial and intellectual resources required to conduct these activities.

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 52nd Report, October 17, 1962, p. 181.

2. Minutes of Urbana-Champaign Senate Meeting, March 3, 1989, p.3.