SAN ANGELO, Texas — History education is a priority at Angelo State University and a donation is allowing the department to flourish.
The Hardeman Family Foundation has given ASU $1 million to finance the Dorsey B. Hardeman Endowed Chair in History, which will go towards a chosen professor for research and educational purposes.
The professor has been suggested by the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and the university president to honor Tennessee native Dorsey B. Hardeman.
"As a historian myself and former chair of the department, I'm thrilled to be able to offer and endowed chair in the Dr. Arnoldo De Leon Department of History," College of Arts and Humanities dean Dr. John Klingemann said.
This is the College of Arts and Humanities' first-ever endowed chair and it honors Hardeman's love of Texas life.
Hardeman studied law in the 1900s and eventually became the mayor of San Angelo in 1936, where he soon thereafter worked in the Texas House of Representatives for two complete terms.
He then went on to serve in World War II and spent the rest of his career in District 25 in the Texas State Senate, where he worked for 25 years.
Some 30 years before his death in 1992, Hardeman worked to make ASU a four-year university.
His legacy is remembered on campus with the Hardeman Student Services Center building and it will continue with the endowment.
