West Virginia University, President David C. Hardesty, Jr., Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 5114
Papers of President David C. Hardesty, Jr. of West Virginia University. Before becoming President of West Virginia University, Hardesty was a lawyer and partner of Bowles, Rice, McDavid, Graff & Love (1973-1994) and West Virginia Tax Commissioner (1977-1980), among various other positions. After finishing his 12-year term as West Virginia University President (1995-2007), Hardesty was a Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law (2007-2018). Some of the series titles in the addendum of 2019/09/03, including series 21-30, repeat some of the earlier series titles (e.g. both Series 7 and Series 21 are titled "Student Papers").
Includes:
Series 1. Inauguration and Inception of Presidency, 1995-1996, boxes 1-2
Series 2. Publications and Reports, 1963-2004, boxes 3-5
Series 3. Athletics, 1995-2004, box 6
Series 4. Clipping Notebooks, 1995-2007, boxes 7-16
Series 5. Audio-Visual Material, 1989-2005, boxes 17-19
Series 6. Oversize Posters, Newspapers, and Other Material, 1966-2004, boxes 20-21
Addenda of 2007/04/18, 2016/12/02, 2018/08/01, 2018/10/10, and 2019/09/03:
Series 7. Student Papers, 1964-1973, 1993-2015, boxes 22-23
Series 8. Career, 1970-2014, boxes 24-26
Series 9. West Virginia University Papers, 1900, 1929, 1965-2016, boxes 27-31
Series 10. Family Papers, 1906-2016, box 32
Series 11. Susan Hardesty Papers, 1962-2015, box 32
Series 12. Photographs, 1900-2016, boxes 33-34
Series 13. Awards, 1962-2008, boxes 35-37
Series 14. Clinton Inauguration, 1992-1993, box 38
Series 15. Artifacts, ca. 1990s-2013, boxes 39-40
Series 16. Gold & Blue Travelers, 1989-2010, boxes 41-55, unboxed
Series 17. Framed Items, 1961-2010, boxes 56-60
Series 18. Oversize Newspapers, Papers, and Other Material, ca. 1940s-2011, boxes 61-66
Series 19. Audio-Visual Material, Digital and Analog, 1995-2014, box 67
Series 20. Miscellaneous, 1838, 1930-1963, 1997-2016, box 68
Addenda of 2006/02/20 and 2019/09/03:
Series 21. Student Papers, 1969, box 69
Series 22. Career, 1979-1981, 2006-2019, box 69
Series 23. West Virginia University Papers, 1995-2019, boxes 69-71
Series 24. Susan Hardesty Papers, 1986-2018, boxes 71-72
Series 25. Family Papers, 1969, 1989-2018, box 72
Series 26. Photographs, 1982, 2014, undated, box 72
Series 27. Gold & Blue Travelers, 2015-2016, undated, box 72
Series 28. Miscellaneous, 2016-2019, undated, box 72
Series 29. Artifacts, 2017-2019, undated, box 73
Series 30. Audio-Visual Material, 1952, 1973-2008, box 74
Series 31. Books, 1834-1923, 1964, 2007, undated, boxes 75-76
Special access restriction applies.
Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
David C. Hardesty, Jr. holds degrees from West Virginia University, Oxford University (which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar), and Harvard Law School. He also attended advanced courses in higher education leadership and decision theory at Harvard University.
Hardesty was the 21st president and CEO of West Virginia University from 1995-2007. While president, he served as chair of WVU Hospitals, Inc. and United Health System. WVU is a multi-campus public research university with comprehensive health sciences education. It enrolled approximately 35,000 students on all of its campuses in his last year as president.
While President, Hardesty led efforts to develop more than 25 student centered programs, including the first faculty led residential colleges in the university’s history. These efforts resulted in rapid expansion of the university student body. He also led efforts to focus WVU’s research programs, establish the world’s first forensic science and biometrics degrees, increase the university’s outreach and service activities, and create a new hospital system. WVU achieved a national reputation in the science of biometrics during his presidency. The health system he chaired expanded to become the largest in West Virginia.
While serving as president, Hardesty was a member of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board; Chairman of the National 4-H Council; a director and officer in the Big East Conference; and a member of the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee. He was a founding director of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute.
Prior to becoming president of WVU, Hardesty engaged in the private practice of law in Charleston with Bowles Rice for 19 years and served as State Tax Commissioner during Senator John D. Rockefeller IV’s first term as governor of West Virginia (1977-80).
Hardesty is a former member of the Board of Directors of Consol Energy, Inc., and is Of Counsel to the law firm of Bowles Rice. He has previously been a member of and chaired several charitable, civic, economic development, business, and education related boards.
Mr. Hardesty is the recipient of several honorary degrees and citations, including designation as a Distinguished West Virginian, West Virginian of the Year by the West Virginia Society of Washington, D.C., induction into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame, induction into The National 4-H Hall of Fame, receipt of The National Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, and designation as a Graduate of Distinction by the West Virginia Education Alliance.
In 2009, the Festival of Ideas speakers’ series at WVU was endowed and named in honor of Hardesty, who helped to found the series in 1966 when he was student body president. An annual lecture at the WVU Cancer Center is also named in his honor.
Hardesty is a frequent speaker on subjects related to the legal profession, higher education, and leadership. He and his wife, Susan, are co-authors of Leading the Public University, Essays, Speeches and Commentary, published for West Virginia University by the WVU Press (2007). He has facilitated retreats and other meetings of boards and community groups for over three decades.
(Adapted from "David C. Hardesty, Jr." David C. Hardesty, Jr. | College of Law | West Virginia University. March 2017. Accessed July 05, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20181203175509/https://www.law.wvu.edu/faculty-staff/full-time-faculty/david-c-hardesty-jr.)
68.5 Linear Feet (68 ft. 6 in. (43 record cartons, 15 in. each); (5 record cartons, 17 in. each); (6 large flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); (6 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 flat storage box, 3 in.); (1 flat storage box, 4 in.); (1 small storage box, 6 1/2 in.); (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (5 document cases, 4 in. each); (3 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 unboxed photograph frame, 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1/2 in.))
31.2 Gigabytes (2638 files, formats include .jpg, .tif, .wav, .iso, .cue)
English
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
One vhs tape of demonstrations on the campus of West Virginia University in May 1970 in response to the shootings at Kent State University during Vietnam War protests; separated to the VHS - DVD collection. It is cataloged under no. 109.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository