John W. Harrelson

John William Harrelson was born in Double Shoals, Cleveland County, North Carolina, USA, in 1885. He was educated at North Carolina State University, where he earned a B.A. in engineering in 1909 and an M.S. in mechanical engineering in 1915. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering in 1954.

Harrelson became an instructor of mathematics at N.C. State in 1909, he later became a professor. In 1929 he was appointed by Governor O. Max Gardner to head the State Department of Conservation and Development. He left the office in 1933 to head the Department of Mathematics at N.C. State.

Harrelson was a member of the local engineering fraternity Alpha Sigma Epsilon which became a chapter of Theta Tau in 1924. He was initiated as the second charter member of the new chapter. In 2003, Harrelson was posthumously inducted into the Theta Tau Alumni Hall of Fame.

In 1934 Harrelson was appointed as the first dean of administration at N.C. State; the school's sixth chief executive and the first alumnus to lead the school. His title was changed to chancellor in 1945; he retired from office in 1953. Harrelson was at the helm of the university during World War II and oversaw the establishment of the School of Design and the School of Forestry.

Harrelson died in Raleigh in 1955. N.C. State's Harrelson Hall was later named in his memory.

ources

* [http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/exhibits/chancellors/harrelson.html http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/exhibits/chancellors/harrelson.html]
* [http://www.ncsu.edu/about-nc-state/university-administration/board-of-trustees/honorary-degrees/degrees-conferred/index.php Honorary Degrees Conferred]
* [http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news/awards/CrottsHarrelson.html Crotts, Harrelson Inducted into Theta Tau 2003 Alumni Hall of Laureates]
* Guide to the John William Harrelson Papers, 1908-1955 [http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00001/]