Ruth P. Morgan was born in Berkeley, Calif., in 1934, but her family moved to Austin, Texas, in 1939, when her father joined the University of Texas faculty. She spent her summers on the family's wheat land in the Texas Panhandle, where she learned that reading would exempt her from participating in chores. She carried this studious penchant with her to the University of Texas at Austin and graduated summa cum laude. Morgan received her master's and doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University in 1962 and 1966. Her academic specialty is in the American Presidency.
Ruth P. Morgan came to Southern Methodist University in 1966 as assistant professor of political science. She taught several courses including the American presidency and modern political thought. Her skills as an academician and pedagogue were recognized by both her colleagues and pupils, and she was twice named SMU's outstanding professor. From the first time she set foot on the campus, Dr. Ruth Morgan was actively involved in improving and developing SMU as an institution. While professor, she served as president of the Faculty Senate.
In 1978 she joined the provost's office and her talent for managerial and administrative tasks proved priceless. She quickly climbed the ranks in this office. In 1986 she was named interim provost to fill the position left by William B. Stallcup, Jr., and in 1987, SMU's ninth president, A. Kenneth Pye, made the appointment permanent. Morgan served an efficacious and diligent six years as provost and stepped down from her post in 1993.
In the provost's office she held a number of positions including chair of a steering committee on self-study and program review. As provost, Dr. Morgan helped update the school's academic program by increasing requirements for science, language and writing. She also established interdisciplinary programs in international and ethnic studies, as well as doctorate programs in both psychology and physics.
Dr. Morgan is provost emeritus and professor emeritus of political science at Southern Methodist University, and her published works include
Bibliography:
The Ruth Morgan faculty papers reflect her life as an academic. The correspondence is organized by date and includes both faculty correspondence as well as official correspondence as Provost. The correspondence series is almost half of the collection. The subject files encompass the wide variety of projects that a provost oversees, and it is a rich source of information about general SMU events.
The collection is organized into seven series:
This is one of the collections in the Archives of Women of the Southwest.
In addition, Ruth Morgan donated her records about her civic participation in the Dallas community to the DeGolyer Library. See
A majority of the collection is open for research use. Series 6 is restricted. Those files have been identified as "RESTRICTED" in the following container list.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Ruth P. Morgan faculty papers, Southern Methodist University Archives, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Gift, Ruth P. Morgan, 2000.
Records were processed in 2001 and 2006. The finding aid was written by Adam Hawkins.
Lara Corazalla, 2006