University of Virginia Library

The Nominee

Our nominee is Frank Loucks Hereford, Jr., Robert C. Taylor Professor of Physics here at the University.

Frank Hereford was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana on 18 July 1923. He is the son of the late Frank L. and Marguerite Roussel Hereford and was married to Ann Lane on 3 January 1948. They have four children, two boys and two girls.

Frank Hereford graduated from Florida Military Academy (FMA) in June 1940 and entered the University of Virginia in September of that year from which he graduated with a B.A. degree in 1943. His decision to enter the University was greatly influenced by a mathematics teacher, the late E. S. Ligon, at FMA who was an alumnus of the University. His Ph.D. degree in Physics was awarded by the University of Virginia in 1947. He was a physicist on a research project for the Office of Scientific Research and Development, 1942-1943, and served during that same year as an Instructor in Physics at the University of Virginia. He was an Instructor in the Pre-Meteorology School of the Army Air Force in 1943, a physicist for the Bureau of Ordnance, U. S. Navy, in 1943-1945, a National Research Fellow, 1946-1947, and a physicist for the Bartol Research Foundation during 1947-1949. While at the University of Virginia he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Raven Society.

Frank Hereford's formal academic career here at the University began with his election as Associate Professor of Physics in 1949. Three years later he was promoted to Professor of Physics and occupied that position from 1952 to 1966. In the latter year he was singled out for special distinction by being elected Robert C. Taylor Professor of Physics, a position which he still holds. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Birmingham in England during 1957-1958 and a Visiting Professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland during 1971-1972. His academic administrative experience at the University of Virginia has been as extensive as has his teaching and research. He was appointed by President Shannon as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1962. In 1966, Mr. Hereford was named Provost, the chief academic officer after the President. Four years later he became the first occupant of the position of Vice-President and Provost. He remained in this position until 1971 when he returned to full-time teaching and research in the Department of Physics.

In acceding to Mr. Hereford's desire to return to teaching and research, President Shannon said in a letter of 14 September 1970 that "No member of the faculty or staff has had a greater influence upon the University's policies and development." President Shannon went on to say that Mr. Hereford had a leading part in obtaining "major development grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and for the establishment and development of the Center of Advanced Studies." He said, in conclusion, that Mr. Hereford's purpose had been "to retain at the University its best talent and to draw to it the most talented scholars, teachers, and scientists from elsewhere in America and abroad." The present academic vitality of the University, Mr. Shannon said, is a measure of Mr. Hereford's success in that effort.

A number of outstanding awards have been made to Mr. Hereford. In 1946, a year before he received his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, he won the U. S. Naval Ordnance Development Award. In 1953 he received the Horsley Research Award from the Virginia Academy of Science. For three successive years, 1954, 1955, and 1956, he was a member of the National Science Foundation Fellowship Committee. Three years later he served on the NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee. He was Chairman of the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society in 1962-1963, and won the Forty-Fourth Annual President and Visitors' Research Prize awarded by the Virginia Chapter of Sigma Xi in 1968. His extensive services to the University in teaching, research, and administration were recognized in 1966 when he received the Thomas Jefferson Award, perhaps the most coveted award the University can bestow.

Throughout Mr. Hereford's academic career, he has published extensively in the field of Physics. His first article appeared in the Journal of Applied Physics in 1947 and he has published one or more articles every year for a total of more than sixty since that time including 1973, with two exceptions. No one is better qualified to testify to his scholarly production than Jesse W. Beams, an internationally known scientist, formerly Francis H. Smith Professor of Physics, and now Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University. In a letter dated 6 July 1973 to the Special Committee, Mr. Beams wrote that Frank Hereford "had one of the highest graduate scholastic records ever made in the Department of Physics at Virginia and is one of the best all around physicists with whom I have ever been associated."

Mr. Beams continued: Frank Hereford "has been a consistent and productive scholar during his entire scientific career. He has made several very important contributions to Physics, but I will list only three to illustrate the high stature of his work... (1) he pioneered many of the principles that are now employed in the modern multibillion bolt linear accelerators used for research in high energy physics; (2) he is the co-discoverer [with M. A. Pomerantz, now Director of the Bartol Research Foundation] of the presence of heavy particles striking the earth from outer space. Special interest in these particles has since developed in connection with space exploration and in modern theories of the universe; and (3) his more recent pioneering work on the behavior of electrons and radiation in liquid helium down to within 0.3 degrees absolute temperature already has stimulated much research and theory in low temperature physics."

Mr. Hereford acquits himself well when measured against the qualifications set forth in the reports of the Faculty Senate Committee and the Student Committee. He amply meets the standards proposed by the Faculty Senate Committee of having "undergone the discipline of engaging in some significant intellectual effort." He has "acceptable credentials in his area of intellectual endeavor and . . . a strong commitment to high quality education." He is not only familiar with educational institutions but his career as a teacher and an administrator at the University of Virginia is in line with the statement of the Faculty Senate Committee that "the selection of a new President should not be approached as a choice between an administrator or an academician. The President should be both."

Likewise, he more than adequately meets the qualifications set forth in the report of the Student Committee. He is "a person of stature who will command respect not only of the University but throughout the State." His experience in academic administration, moreover, qualifies him at a very high level as, in the words of the Student Committee, "an administrator capable of directing the University in the securing of the necessary funds both from the State Legislature and from private sources to further the University's ambitions in its search for excellence." In addition, no better person could be selected who would support in full measure the Student Committee's statement that the President must "constantly take a strong public stand in support of the Honor System and render all possible assistance to student leaders so that it will remain safe from attacks from outside the University."

Mr. Hereford's scholarly and administrative achievements in a very real sense almost speak for themselves. He is indeed highly qualified for the position of President of the University of Virginia. We would like, however, to call your attention to the fact that he would have at his side his lovely wife, Ann, and their fine family. No one who has observed to any degree a University President in action would question the necessity for a strong helpmate in undertaking the tasks that a President has to assume.

For all these reasons, therefore, we come to you unanimously and enthusiastically with the proposal that you adopt the following resolution:

RESOLVED by The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia that Frank Loucks Hereford, Jr. be and he is hereby elected President of the University of Virginia, effective 1 September 1974.