The Yucca, Yearbook of North Texas State College, 1951 Page: 232

                                
through seventeen
eventful years
as teacher and
administrator

POINTING TOI'WARD THE FUTURE, President W. J. Mc-
Connell indicates the newest features of Men's Gym to Mary
Alice Guillet and Jim White

One of North Texas' favorite sons this year
steps down as President of the College. Looking
back over his seventeen-year guidance of one of
the finest state colleges in the nation, there is
much that Dr. W. J. McConnell may find as a
source of pride in a job well-done.
Attending North Texas State Normal Col-
lege for much of his undergraduate work, he
received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the
University of Denver and his Ph.D. from Col-
umbia University.
A typical American success story character,
Dr. McConnell joined the faculty in 1916 as an
Associate Professor in Mathematics.  Three
years later he became Director of the Depart-
ment of Economics. The Deanship of Admin-
istration was offered him in 1923 and he be-
came President of the College following the
death of Dr. R. L. Marquis in 1934.
His first great change in the College oc-
c-,:red in 1 )48 when the school was reorganized

into one College and five Schools. During this
time the name was changed again, to North
Texas State College, and given its own Board
of Regents by the Texas Legislature.
Great strides were made in enrollment
during Dr. McConnell's term in office, as the
student population increased from a 1760 total
in 1934 to 6,008 during the peak year 1950.
Interested not only in expansion of the physical
plant, but also in the academic growth of the
school, Dr. McConnell increased the faculty
from 134 persons in 1934 to near 400 in 1951,
with almost twenty-five per cent of these hold-
ing the doctrate.
Most readily discernable is the tremen-
dous physical growth during his administra-
tion - over $9,000,000 in new construction
over his seventeen-year reign.
Certainly the stamp of the dynamic vision
of W. J. McConnell shall long remain upon
North Texas State.

BOARD OF REGENTS: J. H. ALLISON, Wichita Falls, S. A. KERR, JR., Conroe (Vice-Chairman), R. H.
MONTGOMERY, Mexia, BEN H. WOOTEN, Dallas (Chairman), GRACE W. CARTWRIGHT, Weatherford,
EDWARD D. NORMENT, Paris, CHARLES R. McCRADY, Waxahachie, GEORGE B. EAGLE, Fort Worth.
Not pictured-CHARLES I. FRANCIS, Houston

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