The Presidents of Florida State University
|
|
Dr. Thomas Kent "T.K." Wetherell was appointed president of Florida State University by the Florida State University Board of Trustees on Dec. 18, 2002, and he took office on Jan. 6, 2003. Wetherell, an FSU alumnus, served as president of Tallahassee Community College from 1995 until 2001. Under his leadership, the college doubled its enrollment and the gross square footage of the main campus. He pioneered innovative academic programs, led the college into the top 25 community colleges in the nation awarding associate's degrees and solicited the college's first $1 million scholarship donor. After stepping down as TCC president, he served as a lobbyist with the Southern Strategy Group. Before assuming the presidency at TCC, he was president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and was responsible for coordinating and promoting post secondary higher educational opportunities and programs in Florida's private colleges. He previously served in a number of capacities at Daytona Beach Community College, including provost and dean of instruction, vice president and president of academic and university transfer programs, vice president of district planning and development and executive assistant to the president. Before that, he served as associate professor of education at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach. He began his career as an academic counselor for student-athletes at FSU before going to Florida Technological University in Orlando where he was assistant to the deans of housing and then director of housing and administrative assistant to the vice president. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1992, the last two years as House Speaker. During his tenure in the House, he served as chairman of the appropriations committee and the higher education committee, and the Miami Herald named him one of the Top Ten Legislative Leaders in the House each year from 1987 through 1992. Born Dec. 22, 1945, in Daytona Beach, Wetherell attended Port Orange Elementary School and Mainland Senior High School, where he was active in service clubs, student government and athletics. He attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and played on the 1963-67 football teams. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in social studies education from FSU in 1967 and 1968 respectively. He earned a doctoral degree in education administration from FSU in 1974. He has been inducted into Florida State University's Hall of Fame and was a recipient of the prestigious Moore-Stone Award, as well as the university's Distinguished Service Award. Wetherell is married to Virginia B. Wetherell, who served as Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from 1991 to 1998 and previously served as a state legislator representing Pensacola. She currently is president of Wetherell Consulting Services. They are the parents of three children, Kent, Blakely and Page, and have two grandchildren. Wetherell's personal interests include athletics, outdoor recreation, travel and aviation. |
|
|
Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, served as president of The Florida State University from 1994 to 2003. Prior to his presidency he was dean of the College of Law, and he continued his service to the university after his presidency. Throughout his tenure as president he was dedicated to academic excellence and research, intellectual freedom, diversity, heritage and historic preservation, support for the arts and culture, championship athletics, civic responsibility and service, international programs and campus beautification. He was known for his integrity, broad vision and human warmth. Under his leadership The Florida State University College of Medicine was established and accredited and the university became headquarters of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the largest and high-powered facility of its sort in the world. The university also acquired The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and established the Seven Days of Opening Nights festival of the fine and performing arts. Earlier in D’Alemberte’s career, he served in the Florida House of Representatives. Throughout his life he has been dedicated to public and professional service. He served as President of the American Bar Association and President of the American Judicature Society along with numerous other offices and committee leadership. He has been a champion of pro bono legal service and was in the forefront of the modern dispute resolution movement. He has been honored with the legal profession’s highest awards. His grandfather attended the Seminary West of the Suwannee and his mother attended the Florida State College for Women, two predecessor institutions of The Florida State University. |
|
|
Dale W. Lick served as president of The Florida State University from 1991-1994. He also served as president of Georgia Southern University and the University of Maine. Since his term as Florida State University president he has been a professor of educational policy, and leadership studies and part of the university’s Learning Systems Institute. Lick has been a faculty member and educational administrator for 40 years, including faculty and administrative appointments at nine colleges and universities. He is the author or co-author of over 50 professional books, articles and proceedings. |
|
|
Bernie Sliger, a highly regarded economist, served as president of The Florida State University from 1977 to 1991 after four years as the university's executive vice president and chief academic officer. He returned to the helm as interim president after his successor Dale Lick resigned in 1993. Sliger served in that capacity until Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte became president in 1994. Sliger provided forward-thinking leadership during a long period of unprecedented growth for the university. During Sliger's tenure, student enrollment increased by nearly one-third, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory was awarded to the university, and the institution acquired three supercomputers. Establishment of the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering was high on his list of major achievements, as was acquisition of the Panama City Campus. In addition, Florida State rose to the pinnacle of intercollegiate athletics and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference; funding was approved for the multimillion-dollar University Center; and the idea for the College of Medicine was first explored. Following his retirement, Sliger served as the director of the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education and as a professor of economics. He died in 2007. |
|
|
J. Stanley Marshall came to The Florida State University in 1958 from the State University of New York at Cortland, where he held a professorship in physics. His first assignment was to establish a department of science education and to design programs to educate secondary school teachers in the sciences. He consulted widely in science education, principally in the Middle East and was recognized nationally and internationally for his accomplishments, including the elite designation as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Marshall served as dean of the School of Education and executive vice president before his appointment as president. His presidency coincided with a period of radical student protests, and his campus leadership was most notable for advancing racial integration. Following his presidency he remained active in higher education, including service on the Florida State University Board of Trustees and the Florida Board of Governors. |
|
|
John Champion was president of The Florida State University from 1965 to 1969. During his presidency, the law school opened, the university’s first international study center (Florence, Italy) was created, construction was begun on the Fine Arts Building, and Florida State was named one of 30 Centers of Excellence by the National Science Foundation. Champion inaugurated the university’s Artist Series and the President’s Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He established the school’s Program in Medical Sciences, the forerunner of today’s College of Medicine, and was an advocate of campus beautification. Champion presented the diploma to Florida State’s first black graduate, Maxwell Courtney. Enrollment swelled from 12,000 students to 16,000 students during his tenure, which also endured the tumult of student political protests. Champion was hired as an accounting professor in 1956, rose to assistant dean and later Florida State University’s first vice president of administration before being tapped as president. After his presidency, he returned to the classroom as a professor in the College of Business, retiring as professor emeritus in 1985. He died in 2002. |
|
|
Gordon Blackwell was serving as the chancellor of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina when he accepted the presidency of The Florida State University in 1960. Growth management, academic program development, building construction, and development of a well-rounded athletics program were the major accomplishments of his FSU administration. He played a vital role in the racial integration of the university. During his presidency, enrollment increased from 9,000 to 12,000 students, funding from research contracts and grants more than doubled to $5.5 million, faculty salaries increased by almost 50 percent and the total budget almost doubled to $30 million. To augment state funds with private support, Blackwell appointed the first professional director of the Florida State University Foundation. During his administration the School of Engineering was created; the Asolo Theatre Festival was begun; a Division of Sponsored Research was created; and new doctoral and master's degree programs were approved. During Blackwell's administration, $26 million was spent on building program, including new buildings for math-meteorology, physics, molecular biophysics, psychology research, the university student union and a residence hall. Doak Campbell Stadium was enlarged and a football field house was added. Blackwell left Florida State in 1965 to become president of Furman University. He died in 2004. |
|
|
Milton W. Carothers served Florida State College for Women and Florida State University as registrar, director of the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida, vice president and, finally, acting president upon the untimely death of Robert Strozier. |
|
|
Robert Strozier became president of The Florida State University in 1957, after 28 years of college teaching and administration in three Georgia institutions. He had also served as dean of students and professor of romance languages at the University of Chicago. He was known for his excellent academic credentials, combined with a level-headed practicality and a winning personality. Soon after coming to Florida State, Strozier announced this ambition: "We shall make Florida State a great university," and took steps toward this goal. Students appreciated him for his ready wit, and he established a great rapport with the faculty. While in Chicago for a speaking engagement, Dr. Strozier suffered a heart attack and died on April 20, 1960, at age 53. The university’s main library is named for him. |
|
|
When Doak Campbell retired as president of The Florida State University on June 30, 1957, Albert B. Martin served as acting president until Sept. 1, 1957, when Robert Strozier became president. |
|
|
Doak Campbell was president during the transition from Florida State College for Women to The Florida State University. Prior to becoming president, he had been dean of the Graduate School at George Peabody College for Teachers. The change from a women's school to a coeducational school in 1947 was a substantial one in the school's history, and required great effort from the faculty and Campbell's administration to carry out smoothly. Dr. Campbell supported the creation of an intercollegiate sports program and worked to bring it along slowly but surely, paralleling the development of the new university. One of his most important contributions was his support for the construction of a football stadium on campus. His goal was achieved when the stadium was opened in 1950 and fittingly named for him. In 2004, the field was named after football coach Bobby Bowden, which made the official name of the facility Bobby Bowden Field at Doak. S. Campbell Stadium. Dr. Campbell retired from his position in 1957, but remained in the Tallahassee area as President Emeritus until his death in 1973. |
|
|
In 1909, Dr. Edward Conradi was appointed dean and shortly thereafter president of Florida State College for Women. Dr. Conradi's accomplishments were notable. By 1915 he had succeeded in developing a program that was recognized by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 1924 the institution was approved by the Association of American Universities. Each year of his administration, he added personnel and equipment to the growing institution. While serving as president Dr. Conradi taught FSCW's first experimental psychology course. Conradi, who was born in Ohio and earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Clark University in Indiana, was FSCW's longest-serving president. His contributions resulted not only in his name being given to a Florida State University biology building but also to the College of Arts and Sciences' first Endowed Chair in the Psychology Department in 1991. |
|
|
Albert A. Murphree, a mathematician who joined the faculty of the Seminary West of the Suwannee River in 1895 at age 25, was president during a time of reorganization of higher education in Florida, including the 1909 transition to the Florida State College for Women. Despite the change to women-only status, Murphree had no intention of operating a typical women's college. He aimed instead to create an "institution of higher learning whose students happened to be females," and he succeeded in creating one of the top colleges in the South. One of the college's nearby historic residence halls, constructed in 1922, is named Jennie Murphree Hall, in honor of his wife. |
|
|
Alvin Lewis was president, between 1892 and 1897, of the Seminary West of the Suwannee River, the predecessor institution of The Florida State University.
|
|
|
George Edgar was the first president of the Seminary West of the Suwannee River, the predecessor institution of The Florida State University. (Earlier school leaders had the title Principal.) He served in that office from 1887 to 1892.
|
|
|
Florida State University and its predecessor institutions: 1851 — Florida Institute |
Thomas Kent "T.K." Wetherell
Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte
Dale W. Lick
Bernard F. Sliger
Stanley Marshall
John E. Champion
Gordon W. Blackwell
Milton W. Carothers
Robert M. Strozier
Albert B. Martin
Doak Sheridan Campbell
Edward Conradi
Albert A. Murphree
Alvin Lewis
George Edgar