Biography
Willis M. Tate was born in Denver, Colorado. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from Southern Methodist University. He worked as a school principal in San Antonio, Texas, and returned to Southern Methodist to work as assistant dean of students in 1945 and professor of sociology. He served as its president from 1954 to 1975, with a one-year hiatus in 1974. He died of a heart attack in Colorado in 1989. He served as chairman of the Independent College Funds of America and president of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the Methodist Church. He was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Cycen Fjodr. In 1965, he received the Alexander Meiklejohn Award of the American Association of University Professors for support of academic freedom.References
1912 births 1989 deaths People from Denver Academics from Dallas Southern Methodist University alumni Presidents of Southern Methodist University 20th-century American academics {{US-academic-administrator-1910s-stub