Events throughout the HWR department's history
Note: This is a work in progress. This website, dedicated to the HWR family, will be maintained and updated for current and future alumni. All material is subject to revision, especially if your memory is better than ours. Contact us if you have information that will help us update our pages.
- Fall 1961 - University of Arizona establish the first comprehensive curricula leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science, the Master of Science, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Hydrology, with the undergraduate program to be administered by the department of Geology in the College of Mines and the graduate programs administered by an interdisciplinary committee comprised of representatives from "water" departments and operated under the aegis of the dean of the Graduate College (later the Vice President for Research)
- 1961 - First Hydrology Committee formed: Professors John W. Harshbarger, Chair (Geology), A.R. Kassander (Meteorology), E.J. Laursen (Civil Engineering), M.M. Kelso (Agricultural Economics), T.L. Smiley (Geochronology), D.M. Anderson (Agricultural Chemistry and Soils), Sol D. Resnick (Institute of Water Utilization), and John G. Ferris (Hydrology)
- 1961 - Jay Lehr, who was to complete the first Ph.D. degree in hydrology, employed as an instructor; Herbert Skibitzke of the USGS loaned to the program as a lecturer, commuting from Phoenix to Tucson in his private plane
- 1963 - Professor Daniel D. Evans and Professor Eugene S. Simpson join the department
- 1967 - Graduate program in Water Resources Administration added
- 1971 - Department of Hydrology and Water Resources becomes a unit within the newly established College of Earth Sciences
- 1975 - Professor Stanley N. Davis joins the department
- 19xx - Daniel D. Evans appointed as department head
- June 1976-June 1977 - In a report, Dan Evans reports on upcoming Space Changes--when fragmentation seemed to be the norm--"New teaching lab (Old Psychology) will be ready; HWR will move out of Mines 207 (but not 207A); history and English TAs will move out of Old Psychology; HWR will move out of old gym; HWR will move out of Bio Sciences East; metal building will be constructed for HWR field equipment; HWR will move out of Mines 207A; HWR will start to utilize rooms in the old Paleomagnetism laboratory; HWR will start to utilize storage space in Old Library; Photography darkrooms in Old Psychology will be released to HWR"
- 19xx - Stanley N. Davis appointed as department head (19xx-August 1981)
- September 1978 - Thomas Maddock, Jr., known widely for his fundamental work in sediment transport and stream erosion, joins the department as Distinguished Visiting Scholar
- August 1981 - Nathan Buras appointed as department head (August 1981-February 1989)
- April 1986 - In an issue of the Alumni Newsletter, Eugene Simpson publishes an informal (but highly detailed) account of the department from its conception to that date
- June-July 1986 - Department vacates the Douglass Building (aka Psychology Building) and moves to the "Old" Geology Building--still its current location--after geosciences moves to their "new" building, Gould-Simpson
- February 1989 - Nathan Buras steps down as department head and three faculty members are appointed as interim heads with shared duties: Dan Evans, Shlomo Neuman, and Soroosh Sorooshian
- August 1989 - Dan Evans officially retires and Shlomo Neuman returns full-time to professorship
- August 1989 - Soroosh Sorooshian appointed as department head (August 1989-June 1996)
- August 1996 - Victor Baker appointed as department head (August 1996-June 2004)
- July 2004 - Thomas Maddock III appointed as department head (July 2004-June 2010)
- June 2010 - Thomas Maddock III steps down as department head and returns full-time to professorship
- July 2011 - C. Larrabee Winter appointed as department head (July 2011-June 2015)
- July 2015 - C. Larrabee Winter steps down as department head
- July 2015 - Eric Betterton, head of Atmospheric Sciences, appointed interim head of both the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences
- January 2016 - Eric Betterton appointed head of the newly merged Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences to be known as HAS
- March 31-April 2, 2016 - Department celebrates its 50th Anniversary as a stand-alone academic unit devoted to the study of water science
- September 2019 - Eric Betterton steps down as department head and resumes teaching and research as HAS Distinguished Professor
- October 2019 - Thomas Meixner, UA HWR alumnus, appointed HAS department head