In 1937 Mount Holyoke selected its Roswell Gray Ham as the College’s first male president. Ham and his successor, Richard Glenn Gettell, guided Mount Holyoke through the turmoil of World War II, attacks on academic freedom in the 1950s and the social and political upheavals of the 1960s. During this period enrollment increased greatly and changes in the curriculum and the abolition of the chapel requirement gave students more flexibility. More than 15 buildings were constructed including five dormitories, a religious center, two laboratories and a new theater.