The champion of the campaign for university status was Dr. Stewart H. Smith, a scholar of English literature who served as president of Marshall for more than two decades, from 1946-68.
Under Smith’s leadership, enrollment tripled and the institution’s physical footprint grew substantially. New colleges were created, curricula were added and supplementary accreditation was accorded Marshall by regional and national agencies. Greater emphasis was placed upon both student scholarship and faculty research.
While improvement in the quality of the faculty was a major accomplishment, the paramount achievement of the Smith years was the attainment of university status.
Smith was a tireless advocate for Marshall’s cause, presenting the school’s case for university status to every state legislator and countless other decision-makers.
President Smith recalled the dramatic fashion in which he found out the bill had passed.
[Excerpted liberally from “Marshall University – An Institution Comes of Age: 1837-1980,” by Dr. Charles Hill Moffat.]“I was in my office and didn’t know the legislature had passed it. All at once we heard a terrific roar coming across the campus. Hundreds of students . . . came to Old Main. They called me out and asked me to make a speech . . . I couldn’t talk; I couldn’t form a word. I guess I finally said something . . . We had worked so hard . . . We had almost given up . . . Then to have it happen was such an emotional shock.”
