Doak S. Campbell

Doak Sheridan Campbell was president of Florida State College for Women, as it made the transition from an all-female school under that name to the coeducational Florida State University, between 1941 and 1957.

Campbell was born near Waldron, in Scott County, Arkansas, on November 16, 1888, the first of six children born to Edward and Elizabeth Campbell. He was named after his uncle, Samuel Doak.

Upon graduating from high school, he became a licensed teacher, but left after one year to attend Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He was an intercollegiate debater, orator, and distance runner. He was president of his graduating class and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in music and speech in 1911.

Doak Campbell was married to Helen Gray Smith from May 28, 1913 until her death in 1938. They had two children: Doak S. Campbell, Jr., (b. February 28, 1915; d. October 1, 2003) and Elizabeth Caroline Campbell (b. November 12, 1920; d. December 3, 2008).

Son Doak Jr. married Mary C. in 1938 (estimated); they had 2 children (son Doak S. Campbell III and daughter Helen Jo Crawford).

Daughter Caroline married Donald Broermann in 1940; they had 3 daughters (Mary Noel Chavez, Claire Parz, and Gina Roen).

Doak Campbell was married to Edna Simmons (1897–1978) from 1941 until his death in 1973. During his tenure as President of Florida State University, Edna Campbell fulfilled her responsibilities as the wife of a college president with insight and vigor.

In 1916, Doak S. Campbell began teaching chemistry at Central College, in Conway, Arkansas. In 1920, he became president of the school. While serving in this role, Central College transformed from a failing four-year college to a respectable two-year junior college.The school received the 2002 Elijah Pitts Award (named after the Conway, Arkansas, native and Green Bay Packers legend) for Conway athletic lifetime achievement.

Later in the 1920s, Campbell began attending George Peabody College for Teachers, receiving a Master's degree in 1928 and a Ph.D. in 1930, at which time he was hired onto the school's faculty. He became dean of the graduate school at Peabody in 1938, and remained in that position until accepting the presidency of Florida State College for Women in September 1941. While at Peabody, Campbell was also a member of the State Board of Education and the Board's Middle Tennessee Committee and came under criticism for his handling of an academic freedom and tenure case in which a tenured teacher had been fired without stated cause.

Florida State College for Women was renamed Florida State University on May 15, 1947 by a legislative act. The change from a women's school to a coeducational school in 1947 was a substantial one in the school's history, and required great effort from the faculty and Campbell's administration to carry out smoothly.

Campbell was strongly opposed to the admission of African-American students to Florida State. "Campbell exacted deference from the campus community, suppressed the liberal editorial policy of the semi-weekly Florida Flambeau newspaper, and refused to tolerate any breach of racial segregation. He forced the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to cancel a regional conference at FSU when he learned that black faculty members from the neighboring Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) planned to attend." Campbell attempted to ban student participation at pro-integration meetings, as well as to prohibit the school newspaper, the Flambeau, from writing about racial segregation

Campbell retired from his position on June 30, 1957, but remained in the Tallahassee area as president emeritus of Florida State until his death on March 23, 1973.

Campbell supported a sports program at Florida State, and encouraged the construction of a football stadium. The stadium was completed in 1950, and named Doak S. Campbell Stadium in his honor.