Everette Swinney Conference Room Dedication held on Thursday, September 28, 2006

On Thursday, September 28, 2006, the Department of History formally dedicated the Everette Swinney Conference Room in Taylor-Murphy.  In addition to the guest of honor, those in attendance at the ceremony included Texas State University President Denise Trauth, University Provost Perry Moore, and Associate Provost and Professor of History Eugene Bourgeois.  Department chair Frank de la Teja officiated.  Many members of the Swinney family including Everette’s wife Donna, their four children and their spouses, plus a considerable number of grandchildren were also present.  Rounding out the attendees were members of the Department of History, former and current faculty senators, and faculty from across the university.  President Trauth, Frank de la Teja, and Ken Margerison, Professor of History, spoke of Everette’s long and valuable service to the university and thanked both him and Donna for establishing the Everette and Donna Swinney History Faculty Development Fund.

In 1957 Everette and Donna Swinney arrived in San Marcos, where Ev began teaching United States history at what was then Southwest Texas State Teachers College.  Donna served as a nurse in the San Marcos public schools, and she and Ev raised a family of four children, all of whom graduated from Texas State University. 

Ev’s career spanned forty-eight years, and during that time he made extraordinary contributions to the department, the university, and the profession.  As Department of History chair from 1967 to 1980, he set standards of excellence, collegiality, faculty governance, and integrity that continue to characterize the department today.   Simultaneously, he chaired the Faculty Handbook Committee, which established the principles of academic freedom and faculty rights at the university. As chair of the Faculty Senate for almost a decade during the 1980s and 1990s, he promoted and improved faculty governance.  In recognition of his service to faculty, the Senate created the Everette Swinney Teaching Award.  Specializing in the Civil War and Reconstruction, historiography, and historical quantification, Ev was a superb teacher and a respected scholar.  An excellent colleague, he eagerly assisted faculty in using personal computers, dealing with the university bureaucracy, and solving professional problems.  Ev also played a major role in securing Taylor-Murphy as the home of the Department of History and in developing one of the first departmental computer labs on campus.  

The important contributions of Ev and Donna to the Department of History and the university continue in the Everette and Donna Swinney History Faculty Development Fund, which they created to support faculty research, publication, travel, and other professional activities.

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