T. Marshall Hahn
| T. Marshall Hahn | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 11th President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | |
|
In office July 1, 1962 – December 31, 1974 |
|
| Preceded by | Walter S. Newman |
| Succeeded by | William E. Lavery |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Thomas Marshall Hahn, Jr. December 2, 1926 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | May 29, 2016 (aged 89) Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
University of Kentucky Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Thomas Marshall Hahn, Jr. (December 2, 1926 – May 29, 2016) was an American educator. He served as President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University from 1962 to 1974 and Director of Georgia Pacific from 1983 to 1993. He received his B.S. degree in physics from the University of Kentucky in 1945.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, he was educated in its public schools before going to the University of Kentucky, where he graduated "with highest honors." After graduation he served in the U.S. Navy and was a physicist for U.S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory. After his navy service, he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1949. He was a research assistant at MIT, beginning in 1947. After graduating from MIT, he returned to the University of Kentucky as associate professor and then professor of physics.
In 1954, he went to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia, as head of the Department of Physics. He was the leading force in establishing a doctoral program in nuclear engineering physics at VPI, and in the acquisition of the nuclear reactor simulator that was put into operation in 1957. From 1959 to 1962, he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University.
He returned to Virginia Tech as President on July 1, 1962, where he remained until 1975. Dr. Hahn was instrumental in Virginia Tech's transition from a largely military and overwhelmingly white and male technical institute focused on agriculture and engineering that emphasized undergraduate teaching over research or graduate program to, symbolized by its new name, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a coeducational, multiracial research university with a thriving college of arts and sciences and burgeoning graduate program. During his tenure, Virginia Tech tripled in size. During this period, even remote Blacksburg, Virginia was not untouched by the student anti-war protests with Dr. Hahn targeted as a symbol of the bureaucracy in 1970 when considerable disturbance erupted on campus after a group of students and two faculty members protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War interfered with a Corps of Cadets drill, forcing the university to seek an injunction against further disruptive activities by the individuals involved. He served until December 31, 1974 and was succeeded as President of Virginia Tech by William E. Lavery in 1975.
...
Wikipedia