Jack Royce Woolf (June 10, 1924 – June 10, 2014) was an American academic who arrived at Arlington State College in 1957 as dean of the college. After one year as dean, the Texas A&M Board appointed him acting president in 1958 and president in 1959. In 1967, upon the university leaving the
Texas A&M System for the
University of Texas System
The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...
and with the accompanying name change, Woolf became president of The
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...
. Woolf resigned the presidency in 1968, but continued service to the university until 1989.
Early life and education
Jack Royce Woolf was born to Jeff D. and Emily Mahaza (Bradley) Woolf on June 10, 1924, in
Trinidad, Texas
Trinidad is a city in Henderson County, Texas, United States, near the Trinity River from which the town's name was derived. The population was 860 at the 2020 census, down from 886 at the 2010 census.
During the Spanish Texas period, the town w ...
.
His grandmother Woolf's family settled in the Trinidad, Texas, area after the Civil War.
After graduating from
Trinidad High School, Woolf enrolled in
Texas A&M College
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
in 1941, but in 1943 left A&M to enter active duty in the US Army. He was commissioned an officer in the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
and served for three and one-half years. During his service he commanded an aviation engineering company that built air strips in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. After Army service, he re-entered Texas A&M and in 1948 earned B.S. and M. S. degrees in mechanical engineering. On July 10, 1948, he married Martha Lee Frazar of Strawn, Texas. They moved to Indiana where Woolf was an instructor and graduate student at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering on June 10, 1951.
Career
Upon graduation from Purdue, Woolf accepted a position as a research engineer and supervisor of propulsion research and a team member on the B-58 project with
Convair
Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...
(now
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
) in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1956, he joined
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
in College Station, Texas, as a professor in mechanical engineering and assistant dean of engineering. In 1957, he joined Arlington State College (ASC) as dean of the college. Soon after ASC president Hereford's death in November, 1958, the Texas A&M Board appointed him acting president and in 1959 as president. On March 13, 1967, ASC officially became The University of Texas at Arlington. At that point, Woolf became
UT Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...
president, a post he resigned in 1968.
During Woolf's tenure as president, Arlington State College was elevated to a four-year institution effective September 1, 1959. The college was authorized to offer seventeen bachelor's degree programs in business administration, engineering, liberal arts, and the sciences. At this time, Woolf recruited
Wendell Nedderman
Wendell Herman Nedderman (October 31, 1921 – May 8, 2019) was an American academic administrator who was president of the University of Texas at Arlington for nearly 20 years, first as acting president (November 1972 – February 1974), then as ...
as the first dean of engineering. By 1966, three more bachelors were added as well as teacher certification programs in seven academic departments.
In 1966, in a historic move, Woolf established the graduate school with approval for six new master's degree programs: electrical engineering, engineering mechanics, mathematics, economics, physics, and psychology. The university's first doctoral program, a Ph.D. in engineering, was to come on September 1, 1969.
Under Woolf's leadership, ASC was the first Texas A&M System school to integrate (1962) and the first to accept black athletes (1963). Under his presidency, ASC/UTA expanded rapidly from an enrollment of 5,000 to 11,500. He instituted the first bachelor's and master's degree programs.
Opposition to Integration
ASC, under Woolf's leadership, maintained the system of segregation despite the Supreme Court decisions of
Sweatt v. Painter and
Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregat ...
. This system would involve the Registrar sending a letter to any black applicants that due to "present regulations" they were unable to admit the students to the college, instead forwarding their transcripts to
Prairie View A&M which was the HBCU of the A&M system. It is known that Ernest Hooper, Herbert White, Leaston Chase, Jerry Hanes, Jesse Oliver, and Willie Willis had all sent in applications around April 1962, and were all subsequently denied. Ernest Hooper, Leaston Chase, and Jerry Hanes approached the Dallas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples for assistance. The Legal Redress Committee, chaired by Dallas lawyer Fred J. Finch, Jr., took on their case - with Fred Finch, Jr. writing a letter to Woolf on May 25, 1962, to admit his clients which would essentially integrate the college.
On June 29th the board of directors for the A&M System agreed in an internal meeting to allow the college to integrate, with Chancellor Harrington and President Woolf to conduct a press conference regarding the integration on July 10, 1962. Woolf announced that "...this would be total, not a token integration" as reported by ''Arlington Journal'' on July 12, 1962. However, Woolf would not desegregate the faculty and staff, being quoted in ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', on July 11, 1962, as saying "ASC has no plans now or in the future to hire (Black) teachers".
Reby Cary
Reby Cary (September 9, 1920 – December 7, 2018) was an American educator, politician, and historian in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. He was the first black school board member in Fort Worth and served in the Texas House of Representativ ...
, U.T.A.'s first black faculty, would be hired in September 1969 after Woolf had resigned.
In a personal letter to Chancellor Harrington asking for guidance from the Board, Woolf cautioned problems with the federal government over housing and dormitories given they were all federally funded which seems to indicate that there were attempts to instill segregated housing. In this same letter he notified Harrington that the Athletic Council of the college was positive towards integration, likewise seeking the Board's guidance on the matter. The athletic team would be desegregated in 1963, although the dormitories would not be integrated for another two years. Despite all 61 registered student organizations being integrated "in policy", only 14 of them were integrated "in fact" according to a 1965 Civil Rights Review as done by Dean of Men Horace F. Gillespie and Dean of Students Robert J. Dollar.
The integration of ASC was relatively peaceful as compared to other schools, like Mansfield, but the Rebel and Old South theme would eventually find controversy among the new black students that eventually lead to its replacement by the Mavericks in 1971.
Retirement
![Arlington State College Engineering building (10002853)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Arlington_State_College_Engineering_building_%2810002853%29.jpg)
On Sept. 1, 1968, Woolf resigned the presidency and was named President Emeritus and University Professor of Engineering and Higher Education. He continued to teach courses in mechanical engineering until retiring in 1989. In addition to his career at UT Arlington, he was a consultant to several universities and educational agencies. He was the executive director of the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities for over 10 years.
Woolf was designated a "Distinguished Alumnus" of the College of Engineering of Purdue University in 1964, one of the first ten to be so honored. He also was selected to the Academy of Distinguished Graduates of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University.
[http://engineering.tamu.edu/mechanical/former-students/academy-of-distinguished-graduates. ]
In 1995, UT Arlington renamed the Engineering Building, the first building constructed during his presidency, to Woolf Hall.
Jack R. Woolf died on his 90th birthday on June 10, 2014, from
natural causes
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...
.
See also
*
University of Texas at Arlington College of Engineering
The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) College of Engineering is a college of engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The engineering program was established in 1959 when Arlington State College was officially ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolf, Jack
University of Texas System
Presidents of the University of Texas at Arlington
1924 births
2014 deaths
People from Henderson County, Texas
Military personnel from Texas
United States Army Air Forces soldiers
American engineers
University of Texas at Arlington faculty
Texas A&M University alumni
Texas A&M University faculty
Purdue University College of Engineering alumni