FORMER PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY REMEMBERED BY MANY AS OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AND FRIEND

(KINGSVILLE, August 12, 1996) - Dr. James C. Jernigan, former president of Texas A&I University, now Texas A&M University-Kingsville, died Saturday, Aug. 10 in Richardson at the age of 81.

Jernigan served as president of the college for 11 years, during which time enrollment increased from 3,516 to more than double that figure 10 years later and the budget increased 368 percent from $3,497,711 for 1962-63 to $12,892,206 for 1972-73. During his term as president, Texas A&I began the nation's first undergraduate bilingual degree program, pioneered in the National Teachers Corps project and the Upward Bound movement, had the nation's only natural gas curriculum accredited by the Engineers' Council of Professional Development, expanded research and established the state's first upper-level schools for undergraduates -- Texas A&I University at Laredo, and later Corpus Christi.

A native of Van Alstyne, Texas, Jernigan was a 1932 graduate of McKinney High School and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1937 and 1939, respectively, from North Texas State University. He held teaching and administrative posts in Collin County, Whitewright and Pilot Point and served as deputy state superintendent of schools in Texas.

Jernigan entered the U.S. Army in 1942 as a private in the infantry. He served as a combat officer in the European theater for 20 months. In 1946, he was discharged from the Army with the rank of captain, after having earned the Bronze Star and campaign stars for Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe.

In March 1946, Jernigan joined the faculty at what was known as The Texas College of Arts and Industries, as director of men's activities and was named dean of student life the following July. He took a two-year leave of absence in 1947 to attend the University of Chicago and complete work toward his Ph.D. He returned to Texas A&I in the fall of 1949 and became director of student personnel and associate professor of education and psychology, a post which he held until he assumed the duties of dean of the college on Oct. 30, 1950. In September 1962, Jernigan was named president, succeeding Dr. Ernest H. Poteet.

In September 1967, The Texas College of Arts and Industries became Texas A&I University. Jernigan eventually became the first chancellor of the Texas A&I University System in September 1973, following his 11-year tenure as president of Texas A&I. Following his retirement as chancellor in August 1975, Jernigan served as adjunct professor of Human Relations and consultant to the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma, as part-time director and consultant in adult education for the Plano Independent School District and as a private consultant in human relations. In 1987, he was appointed professor emeritus of Texas A&I University.

Jernigan was active in various professional and civic organizations, serving as president of the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, member of the National Education Association, the Texas State Teachers Association, the American Association of University Professors, the American College Personnel Association and Phi Delta Kappa; as well as president of the Kingsville Community Concert Association and Kiwanis International, member of the board of directors of the Kingsville Chamber of Commerce, executive board member of the Gulf Coast Council of Boy Scouts, advisory board member of the Kingsville Salvation Army, and as elder of the First Christian Church of Kingsville .

Dr. Robert D. Rhode, dean of the college from 1962 until 1971 and longtime friend of Dr. Jernigan, described Jernigan as an excellent president, and later chancellor of the South Texas University System.

"I think he was an outstanding educator, a very fine gentleman and was much admired by faculty and staff during the years that he served," Rhode said. "He was a very dear friend and I had great respect for him and have kept in touch with him through the years since his retirement."

In 1968, the new university library was named after Jernigan by the A&I Board of Directors. Years later, he was presented the Distinguished Service Award by the Texas Association of State College and University Business Officers.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at First Christian Church in Richardson. Flesher Funeral Home of Van Alstyne is in charge of the arrangements.

-TAMUK-
-Mary McAdam