Dobbins joins long line of previous Southeast presidents

Southeast Missouri State University has had 17 presidents in its 153 years of being a university and hired on March 4th, 2015 was the 18th president Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto.

Lucius H. Cheney (1873-1876)

Alfred Kirk (1876-1877)

Charles Henry Dutcher (1877-1880)

Richard Chapman Norton (1881-1893)

Willard Duncan Vandiver (1893-1897)

John Sephus Mcghee (1897-1899)

Washington Strother Dearmont (1899-1921)

Joseph Archibald Serena (1921-1933)

Walter Winfield Parker (1933-1956)

Mark F. Scully (1956-1975)

Robert E. Leestamper (1975-1979)

Bill Stacy (1980-1989)

Robert W. Foster (1989)

Kala Stroup (1990-1995)

Bill Archley (1995-1996)

Dale F. Nitzschke (1996-1999)

Kenneth W. Dobbins (1999-2015)

Lucius H. Cheney -- (1873-1876)

Cheney was the first president of Southeast Missouri State University. Presidents were called principals back in those days. Cheney was the head of what was then called the Third District Normal School, which had five members on the faculty and 57 students. While in office for three years, Cheney saw the construction of the school's first building, the beginning of classes, a formulation of curriculum for teacher education in a rural district and an expansion of students from 57 to 229. Cheney died, in 1876, on an archaeological expedition in the Cumberland Mountains. Due to his death in the Cumberland Mountains the Third District Normal School had find a replacement for Cheney as president. Cheney Hall was named after him in 1939.

Willard Duncan Vandiver -- (1893-1897)

Vandiver was the fifth president of the Third District Normal School. He fought to keep the doors open at the school when low student enrollment threatened to close its doors for good. Vandiver was the first president selected from within the faculty. At the time when Vandiver was in office student enrollment was declining and his main task was to recruit students. After his role as president, Vandiver pursued a career in politics where he became famous for coining the motto of the "Show Me State." Vandiver was quoted once during a political debate as saying, "I am from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockle-burs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."

Washington Strother Dearmont -- (1899-1921)

Dearmont was the president who turned the Third District Normal School into a four-year, degree-granting college. As the university's seventh president, Dearmont tripled the enrollment from 450 students to 1,500 students in a span of 10 years from 1911-1921. When Dearmont made the school a four-year college he set the minimum number of hours a student had to get in order to receive a bachelor's degree at 120. In 1919, the Missouri Legislature approved changing the school's name to Southeast Missouri State Teachers College thanks to the accomplishments of Dearmont. Under his term, three publications: the Educational Outlook, The Sagamore and The Capaha Arrow were inaugurated.

Walter Winfield Parker -(1933-1956)

Parker served the longest term out of all the presidents at 23 years. As the ninth president of the university, Parker increased the number of buildings by 43 percent and tripled the student enrollment. The buildings that were constructed are Cheney Hall, Myers Hall, Kent Library, the Memorial Building, and the Physical Education Building. The physical education building today is known as Parker Hall renamed in 1960. Parker pushed the school's academic standing until it ranked in the top three percent of the nation's colleges and established two scholarship systems. Before working at Southeast he was a president at Northwestern State Teachers College (now Northwestern Oklahoma State University), and his experience and diversity led to him being hired at Southeast.

Mark F. Scully -- (1956-1975)

Scully was the 10th president of Southeast Missouri State University. Under Scully, Southeast saw growth in student enrollment, faculty, and buildings. Scully was the first president who was also an alumnus of Southeast. The name of the school changed from Southeast Missouri State College to Southeast Missouri State University on Aug. 24, 1972. Enrollment, the number of buildings and faculty all saw growth within Scully's term. By 1973, there were three residence halls and five academic buildings, and he helped increase enrollment from 1,500 students to 8,000. Scully was a president, but not only an administrator, also an educator who taught as president. Scully was the first ever president from a state college to sit on the Missouri Commission on Higher Education. So distinguished, in fact, that in 1971 the psychology and education building was completed, and the Board of Regents decided to name it after Scully for his accomplishments.

Kala Stroup -- (1990-1995)

Stroup was the first and only female president at Southeast Missouri State University. Stroup came to Southeast with a mission. She believed that a school must know where it is going to attract students. Stroup was selected out of a group of 124 applicants after a nine-month search for a president to replace Dr. Bill Stacy. Stroup oversaw the addition of three fraternities: Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta and Lambda Chi Alpha and one sorority, Gamma Phi Beta. She approved an $11 million expansion of Towers Complex, and the design, funding and construction of Robert A. Dempster Hall began while she was president.