Program History

History

The first four of eight houses (Blacker, Dabney, Fleming, and Ricketts) were built in 1931 to house as many of the 510 Caltech undergraduate students as possible. Prior to 1931, only a quarter of the student population could be housed on campus. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Caltech's campus was just beginning to expand to include the Division of Biology in 1928 followed by GALCIT in 1929. The fraternities, who previously lived in off-campus private homes around Caltech, moved onto campus and into the newly built Houses. The Houses remained governed exclusively by students until 1940 when the first Master of Student Houses (MOSH) was appointed. Most MOSH's chose to live in the MOSH house located in the Steele House on S. Holliston Ave. until the house was converted into office space in the 1990s. In 1996, the first Faculty in Residence (FIR) appointment was made and the FIR was housed in Avery House when it opened in 1996.

In 2018, after several years without a MOSH present in the Houses, the Master of Student Houses (MOSH) appointment was retired in favor of the Head Faculty in Residence position.

Past Faculty in Residence

Jess F. Adkins, Smits Family Professor of Geochemistry and Global Environmental Science

Geoff Blake, Professor of Cosmochemistry and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Chemistry

Jehoshua "Shucki" Bruck, Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Computation and Neural Systems & Electrical Engineering

John Dabiri, Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering

Konstantinos Giapis, Professor of Chemical Engineering

John F. Hall, Professor of Civil Engineering

Catherine Jurca, Professor of English

Diana Kormos-Buchwald, Robert M. Abbey Professor of History

Kenneth G. Libbrecht, Professor of Physics
Erik Snowberg, Professor of Economics and Political Science

Cindy A. Weinstein, Eli and Edythe Broad Professor of English; Vice Provost; Chief Diversity Officer

Jonas Zmuidzinas, Merle Kingsley Professor Physics; Director, Caltech Optical Observatories

Past Master of Student Houses

2014 - 2015: Erik Snowberg, Professor of Economics and Political Science

2009 - 2014: Geoffrey A. (Geoff) Blake, Professor of Cosmochemistry and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Chemistry

2002 - 2009: Catherine Jurca, Professor of English

1997 - 2002: Steven C. Frautschi, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus

1991 - 1997: David B. Wales, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus

1987 - 1992: Robert W. Oliver (1922-1998), Professor of Economics, Emeritus

1983 - 1987: Christopher E. Brennen, Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus

1980 - 1983: Sunney I. Chan, George Grant Hoag Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Emeritus

1975 - 1980: James W. Mayer (1930 - 2013), Professor of Electrical Engineering

1969 - 1975: David R. Smith (1923 - 1990), Professor of Literature

1963 - 1969: Robert A. Huttenback (1928 - 2012), Professor of History; Division Chair of Humanities

1962 - 1963: No MOSH

1960 - 1962: Robert A. Huttenback (1928 - 2012), Professor of History; Division Chair of Humanities

1954 -1960: George P. Mayhew (1920 - 1988), Professor of English