Dr. Wendell H. Nedderman
Dean Kamen, Wendell Nedderman, Bill Carroll
Wendell Nedderman graduated first in his high school class and enrolled in Iowa State University’s civil engineering program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1943 and joined the Navy Reserve, eventually earning eight battle stars and three campaign ribbons as a commissioned officer aboard the destroyer USS Patterson. Before he was 23, Dr. Nedderman had fought in the Marianas, the Philippines, on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
When the war ended, he attended Texas A&M University where he completed his master’s degree. He went on to receive his Ph.D. at Iowa State.
In 1959, Dr. Nedderman was in a tenured professor position at Texas A&M University when Arlington State College’s (now UT Arlington)President Dr. Jack Woolf called him to lead ASC’s new College of Engineering. There was not much to the campus when he came.
Dr. Nedderman went right to work on hiring faculty and staff to build the engineering program. He spent the decade growing the engineering school into one of the Southwest’s best. By the end of the decade, ASC’s engineering school had five accredited undergraduate programs and its first graduate degree programs. In 1969, the institution’s first doctoral program, a Ph.D. in engineering was approved.
Later, Nedderman went on to become the university’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and during his tenure he held the positions as Graduate School Administrator and Vice President for Research and Graduate Affairs. He held these positions under President Frank Harrison, who had succeeded former President Dr. Jack Woolf. When Harrison left in 1972, UT System Chancellor Charles LeMaistre named Nedderman acting president. Woolf and Harrison left Dr. Nedderman with a rapidly developing university, and he continued the effort. As president he constructed 24 buildings, implemented 64 degree programs (44 on the graduate level) and nearly doubled enrollment.
Wendell Nedderman served 20 years as UT Arlington’s president (1972-1992). In 1992, he was named president emeritus, received the Mirabeau B. Lamar Award for leadership in learning by the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities and was inducted into the UT Arlington Military Science Hall of Honor. His legacy is so inspiring, he’s now a Wikipedia entry.
Even after his retirement in 1992, Nedderman has remained an unrelenting supporter of the university. The university’s philanthropic employees are members of The Nedderman Society. In 1984, he was named an Honorary Distinguished Alumnus by the Alumni Association. In 1992, his wife Betty joined him when she was named Honorary Distinguished Alumna.
Today, the two continue to support the Alumni Association as Life Members, Circle of Pride members and annual sponsors to the Distinguished Alumni Gala. Dr. Nedderman is also a member of the 1895 Society and the Maverick Club.
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