Ila Delbert Weeks

Ila Delbert "ID" Weeks (born September 5, 1901 in Scotia , Nebraska , † November 23, 1983 in Vermillion , South Dakota ) was an American professor, university director and politician .

Career

Ila Delbert Weeks was born in 1901 to Fred Calvin Weeks (1875-1956) and his wife Laura Blanche Weeks (1878-1958), née Pope, in Greeley County . Nothing is known about his childhood. Weeks graduated from Scotia High School. He then worked for two years as Superintendent of Schools in Riverdale, Nebraska. In the following years he attended the Nebraska State Teachers College in Kearney (Nebraska), where he earned a bachelor's degree, and then the University of Iowa , where he received his master's degree in 1925 .

Weeks married his wife Virginia (1902-1983), nee Shawkey, in 1926. The couple were married for 57 years and had at least two sons: James and Robert.

Weeks moved to South Dakota with his wife. He was a professor of Rural Education at Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen ( Brown County ) - a post he held for eight years. From 1933 to 1935 he served as the Superintendent of Public Instruction of South Dakota. Weeks then moved to Vermillion with his family.

In 1935, he became President of the University of South Dakota (USD) - a position he held until his resignation in 1966. Weeks was the youngest president of a state university in the United States when he took office and had the longest presidential term of any state university in the United States when he retired. Three-quarters of all degrees that existed at the University of South Dakota in 1966 were admitted during his tenure. When he took office, there were 900 students enrolled and nearly 4,000 students at the end of the year. After his resignation, he taught at the USD School of Education, sat on the SD Constitutional Revision Commission and several other community committees. He has also lectured to educators, religious groups, and charity clubs across South Dakota and the United States.

Weeks also held other positions in his life: Secretary of the State University Association, President of the National Association of State Universities & Land Great Colleges (1950), Chairman of the Rural Service National Congress of Parents and Teachers, and President of the South Dakota Education Association.

He died on November 23, 1983 at the age of 82 after a long illness in a Vermillion hospital.

Awards

• 1935: Honorary Degree - Dakota Wesleyan University
• 1965: Distinguished Service Award - Northwestern College
• 1968: Distinguished Service Award - South Dakota State University
• 1969: Honorary Degree - South Dakota State University
• 1970: Alumni Achievement Award - University of South Dakota
• 1974: Agnes Holdrige Award - South Dakota Lung Association
• Distinguished Alumni Award - Kearny State College
• Distinguished Achievement Award - University of Iowa
• Distinguishes Service Award - Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Honors

In recognition of Weeks' contributions to the University of South Dakota, the on campus library was renamed after him in 1966 to honor him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fred Calvin Weeks in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved on August 23, 2017.
2. ↑ Laura Blanche Pope Weeks in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved on August 23, 2017.
3. ↑ Virginia Shawkey Weeks in the database of Find a Grave . Retrieved on August 23, 2017.

Websites

• Ila Delbert Weeks in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Ila Delbert Weeks on the sdexcellence.org website