By Ron Brown, PhD, Dean
University College

Texas State University-San Marcos turned 100 years old in 1999. Authorized as the Southwest Texas Normal School in 1899, Texas State was one of several Texas universities created to train public school teachers for the state of Texas. Preparing educators remains an essential element in the university’s mission to this day, but in the early years, everything was subordinate to this responsibility.

All of the early departments followed this emphasis, so the modern McCoy College of Business Administration began with teacher preparation in typing, shorthand and bookkeeping; the Department of Technology provided industrial arts training for future "shop" teachers; and the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer and Family Science trained high school "ag" and "home ec" teachers. This initial mission has placed Texas State alumni in nearly every school district in the state.

When Texas State opened, Thomas Green Harris was the first "principal," and 17 faculty members taught the first 303 students. Five campus buildings bear the last names of these early teachers and attest to the heritage of principal Harris and faculty members Lucy Burleson, Mary S. Butler, Lula Hines and Helen Hornsby. The presence of women among those so honored is another distinctive tradition at Texas State, where 10 of the original faculty members were women.

Texas State first became a college in 1919 and thereafter awarded baccalaureate degrees to its graduates. In 1937, the university awarded its first master’s degrees. Texas State has gone through four name changes, becoming a university in 1969.

In fall 2008, Texas State enrolled 29,105 students in 100 bachelor's, 88 masters and eight doctoral degree programs. The original "Old Main" building has become one of nearly 225 buildings on a main campus that has grown from 11 to 457 acres. In 1901, the Texas Legislature appropriated $55,000 for the main building, and 97 years later Texas State dedicated its new LBJ Student Center, which cost $24 million and became, with the Alkek Library, the new center of campus.

In the past 110 years, Texas State has had three acting presidents and nine permanent presidents. The first three — Harris, Cecil Eugene Evans and John Garland Flowers — served a combined total of 61 years and gave the institution a sense of stability and purpose that characterizes Texas State to this day. The first Pedagog, Texas State’s yearbook, set the lofty goal of preparing "citizens;" today’s Statement of Core Values affirms a similar commitment to creating humane and ethical individuals who will seek excellence, create a nurturing environment and cultivate personal character. We continue to honor the traditions of our past while developing plans for the future of Texas State.