SUBMITTED REPORTS
Robert L. Hardesty, the seventh president of Texas State University, has died at the age of 82. Hardesty died July 8, in Austin. Arrangements are pending.
Hardesty served as president during a period of unprecedented enrollment growth. When he took office in 1981, enrollment stood at approximately 16,000 students. It exceeded 20,000 by the time he left the university in 1988.
He is credited with accepting what has since become the Wittliff Collections, the university’s special collections that focus on artistry depicting the American Southwest.
In founding the LBJ Distinguished Lecture Series, Hardesty fulfilled a promise made by Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson, the university’s most prominent alumnus, to bring nationally recognized speakers to campus.
Johnson died before that promise could be realized, but Hardesty brought it to fruition. The initial lecture was delivered in 1982 by W. Thomas Johnson, LBJ’s former press secretary and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times.
Other LBJ lecturers through the years have included former U.S. President Gerald Ford, former U.S, Rep. Barbara Jordan, former House Majority Leader Jim Wright, and dozens of other nationally recognized individuals in fields including government, education, entertainment, business, civil rights and literature.
Hardesty was part of LBJ’s inner circle in Washington, D.C., and was chief speechwriter for the president.
At Texas State, he also expanded on his predecessor’s (Lee H. Smith) initial private fundraising efforts, moved the university’s sports teams from NCAA Division II to Division I, and created the College of General Studies.
He expanded the university physical plant with projects that included the Albert B. Alkek Library and athletic facilities, increased the statewide visibility of the school and is credited with improving community relations in San Marcos.
