1940:

Accreditation granted by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Institute of Marine Science that would become RSMAS formed

Army Air Corps and RAF cadets on campus for training offered by UM and Pan American Airways

1941:

Graduate school created

Duke of Windsor visits and reviews RAF pilots

School of Education offers its first graduate courses

1942:

All social events cancelled due to war effort

Granada Shops acquired to become Music Work Shop

John J. Koubek gives his former home to become the Koubek Center

Coffin Tower added to the Anastasia Building; put to use by the Army Air Force

1943:

George A. Brockway gives $100,000 in war bonds for a new library building

Graduate school awards first Master’s Degrees

1945:

Grace Doherty gives final parcel of land to University creating 245 acre site that becomes the Main Campus

Ashe announces plans for Main Campus on original site where Merrick Building skeleton still standing

Pancho Segura wins 3rd national tennis championship

War years good for University – well positioned to serve returning GI’s

Veterans on GI Bill flood into UM more than doubling enrollment

1946:

Honorary Doctor of Law awarded to Winston Churchill; convocation held at Orange Bowl

Classes begin on South Campus for freshman; called University in the Boondocks

1947:

FHA funds construction of 29 apartments and buildings on new campus

To raise funds the soil from Lake Osceola excavation sold to Miami for the Rickenbacker Causeway

Hurricane polo team wins first of four consecutive national championships

UM leases land on Virginia Key from Dade County to house the Marine Institute

Charles Beaumont bequeaths $50,000 for construction of lecture hall attached to classroom building; Beaumont Lecture Hall is renamed Beaumont Cinema in the 1950s

School of Engineering is founded

1948:

Memorial Classroom Building dedicated; first permanent building completed on the Main Campus

UM Band is nicknamed "Band of the Hour"

Merrick Building is rededicated; named for Solomon Merrick, the father of George Merrick, who founded of Coral Gables

Workshop in Latin American Culture combines language and archeological classes in Oaxaca, Mexico

1949:

Merrick Building completed after standing incomplete for 22 years; law school and library move from North Campus to new building

Undergraduate enrollment reaches 10,000 thanks to GI bill

Tempo, a student produced magazine, began publication as a magazine patterned after LIFE, with in-depth features and photo essays on university life