Ben Graf Henneke

Last updated
Ben Graf Henneke
President of the
University of Tulsa
In office
1958–1967
Preceded by Clarence I. Pontius [1] [2]
Succeeded by Eugene Swearingen [3]
Personal details
Born(1914-05-20)May 20, 1914
St. Louis, Missouri
Died November 13, 2009(2009-11-13) (aged 95)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Alma mater University of Tulsa
University of Iowa
University of Illinois

Ben Graf Henneke (May 20, 1914 – November 13, 2009) was the president of the University of Tulsa ("TU"), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, from 1958 to 1967. A professor of speech and theatre, he wrote an early textbook on radio announcing, and was instrumental in the creation of the university's radio station, KWGS. Henneke also wrote the TU fight song when he was an undergraduate student at the school. Henneke has been cited as one of the most influential figures in the university's history. [4] [5] [6]

University of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. TU has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic.

Tulsa, Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, United States

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 45th-most populous city in the United States. As of July 2016, the population was 413,505, an increase of 12,591 over that reported in the 2010 Census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 991,005 residents in the MSA and 1,251,172 in the CSA. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma, with urban development extending into Osage, Rogers, and Wagoner counties.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Contents

Early life and education

Henneke was born in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from Tulsa Central High School, [6] he enrolled at the University of Tulsa in 1931, [4] with plans to become a journalist. [7] In 1932, as a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, Henneke entered a contest, sponsored by a local clothing store, for a new fight song for the school's athletic teams, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Henneke won the contest and a $25 prize. He had not written a song before; he later said that the opening sounds of his composition were inspired by the sounds his family's Hoover vacuum cleaner made when he performed his household chores. His winning entry, "Hurricane Spirit Song" (now also commonly known as the "Hurricane Fight Song"), remains in use today. [8]

Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

Central High School is the oldest high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1906 as Tulsa High School, and located in downtown Tulsa until 1976. The school now has a 47-acre (19 ha) campus in northwest Tulsa. Tulsa Central is part of the Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma's largest school district, and is a public school for students from grades 9 through 12. Since 1997 it has served as a fine and performing arts magnet school.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Tulsa

The Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent The University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the University of Tulsa (TU) had many unofficial team nicknames including Kendallites, Presbyterians, Tulsans, Tigers, Orange and Black, and Yellow Jackets. The name "Golden Tornadoes" was chosen by TU football coach H.M. Archer (1922–24) based on new gold and black uniforms and a remark made during practice of the team "roaring through opponents". However, it was quickly discovered that the same name had been chosen in 1917 by Georgia Tech. Archer then substituted the term "hurricane" for "tornado" and a team vote prior to leaving for the game against Texas A&M confirmed the official nickname as "Golden Hurricane".

The Hoover Company an American vacuum cleaner company

Hoover is a vacuum cleaner company founded in Ohio in the US. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and mostly in the 20th century it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the Hoover brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hoover was part of the Whirlpool Corporation but was sold in 2006 to Techtronic Industries for $107 million. Hoover Europe/UK split from Hoover US in 1993 and was acquired by Techtronic Industries, a company based in Hong Kong.

Henneke graduated in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in English, and later received a master's degree in theatre from the University of Iowa and a doctorate in speech from the University of Illinois. [4]

University of Iowa public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States

The University of Iowa is the flagship public research university of the State of Iowa, United States. Its main campus is in Iowa City, Iowa. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and the second largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 11 colleges offering more than 200 areas of study and seven professional degrees.

Academic career

Offered a job with the Tulsa World after graduation, [7] Henneke instead began teaching speech and theater at TU in 1936. He created a radio quiz show, "Going to College," which aired nationally from 1945 to 1952. Henneke was instrumental in the founding of a radio station for the university, which commenced operations in 1948 as KWGS, its initials in honor of Tulsa oilman William G. Skelly, who supplied the funding. [4] [9]

<i>Tulsa World</i> newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Tulsa World is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company owned by Warren Buffett. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the state, after The Oklahoman. It was founded in 1905 and locally owned by the Lorton family for almost 100 years until February 2013, when it was sold to BH Media Group. In the early 1900s, the World fought an editorial battle in favor of building a reservoir on Spavinaw Creek, in addition to opposing the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. The paper was jointly operated with the Tulsa Tribune from 1941 to 1992.

Henneke's textbook, the Radio Announcer's Handbook [10] first published in 1949 and revised in 1959, was reportedly the first textbook on radio announcing. He also wrote another textbook, Reading Aloud Effectively. [4]

Henneke became academic vice president of the university in 1953, and was named its 16th president [11] in 1958. [4] He was the first TU alumnus to become president of the university. [12] He was credited with upgrading TU's faculty and academic reputation: during his tenure the university established new doctoral programs, increased the proportion of faculty with doctorates, started new publications including Petroleum Abstracts and the James Joyce Quarterly , developed a North Campus center for petroleum engineering research, and expanded many other facilities. [4] Henneke also initiated the university's efforts to obtain a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; after it was chartered in 1989, Henneke was inducted as an alumni member in 1991. [5] Also during his presidency, the university received a $34 million gift from the estate of Tulsa philanthropist J.A. Chapman, which greatly improved the school's previously difficult finances. [7]

<i>James Joyce Quarterly</i> journal

The James Joyce Quarterly (JJQ) is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1963 that covers critical and theoretical work focusing on the life, writing, and reception of James Joyce. The journal publishes essays, notes, reviews, letters, a comprehensive checklist of recent Joyce-related publications, and, formerly, the editor's "Raising the Wind".

Petroleum engineering field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas

Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Exploration, by earth scientists, and petroleum engineering are the oil and gas industry's two main subsurface disciplines, which focus on maximizing economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.

Phi Beta Kappa honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States

The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and is often described as its most prestigious honor society, due to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at American colleges and universities. It was founded at the College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776 as the first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity and was among the earliest collegiate fraternal societies.

After his tenure as president, Henneke returned to teaching in 1967 as a professor of humanities. He retired in 1979, having spent the first 48 years of his adult life at TU as a student or faculty member. He was named TU's "president emeritus" in 1982. He continued to write and teach extensively, including numerous articles, a weekly column in the Tulsa Tribune , and a radio lecture series on KWGS. [4] [5] In 1990 he published a biography of 19th century actress and theatrical manager Laura Keene, best known for her production of the play Our American Cousin , which Abraham Lincoln was watching on the evening of his assassination at Ford's Theatre. [13] One reviewer of this book commented that it would "rectify shoddy theatre history" and "re-inscribe" Keene's place in that history. [14] Henneke also published a book-length poem entitled A Ravenna Mosaic. [5]

Henneke married Ellen Eaves in 1940; she died in 2004. [4] Also in 2004, his 90th birthday was honored with a proclamation by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry naming it "Dr. Ben Graf Henneke Day". [5] After Henneke's death in 2009, current TU president Steadman Upham commented, "No one has had a greater impact on the University of Tulsa than Ben Henneke." [4]

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References

  1. Marc Carlson, "University of Tulsa" at Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Archived April 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. (retrieved November 18, 2009).
  2. Scott Cooper, "Pontius Pilot", Tulsa World , January 12, 1998.
  3. Nick Foltz, "Predecessor Knew Twyman Was Right Man for Job", Tulsa World , May 23, 1989.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Ex-TU president gave much to university", Tulsa World , November 15, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Former President Henneke Dies", KWGS, November 14, 2009.
  6. 1 2 "Ben Henneke: A gentleman and a scholar", Tulsa World , November 17, 2009. ("No one person is more closely associated with the University of Tulsa — or more honorably so — than Ben Graf Henneke.")
  7. 1 2 3 Randy Krehbiel, "Henneke's Ties Reaching Into Seventh Decade", Tulsa World , June 27, 1993.
  8. "Hurricane Roar", The University of Tulsa Magazine (Homecoming 2008), p. 14.
  9. "T.U. Is On the Air", in The 1948 Kendallabrum (retrieved November 18, 2009).
  10. Ben Graf Henneke, The Radio Announcer's Handbook (Rinehart, 1948).
  11. "1,500 Attend Funeral Of TU President Twyman", Tulsa World , May 26, 1989.
  12. Gene Curtis, "Way back when: Today in history", Tulsa World , April 16, 2008.
  13. Ben Graf Henneke, Laura Keene: a biography (Council Oak Books, 1990), ISBN   978-0-933031-31-9.
  14. Lesley Ferris, "Reviewed work(s): Laura Keene: Actress, Innovator and Impresario by Ben Graf Henneke, etc., Theatre Journal, Vol. 46, No. 3, Colonial/Postcolonial Theatre (Oct. 1994), pp. 432-434, available here (pay site).