Juel, Martin O.

Biography

Dr. Martin O. Juel (1916–2008) grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. He received his BA from St. Olaf College (1937) and both his ME (1940) and PhD (1954) from the University of Minnesota.

Juel came to Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1950 as coordinator and professor of the health education program. Juel was appointed and served as dean of students from 1954–1967, simultaneous serving as the faculty adviser to the Student Senate and director of the Student Personnel Office. Juel served as chairman of the education department from 1973–77. Juel was also chairman of the Southwest Texas State University Athletics Council and represented the university's faculty in the Lone Star Athletic Conference for ten years. Juel retired in 1981.

He served as president of the San Marcos Rotary Club from 1964–1965 and president of the Austin Chapter of the Southwest Football Officials Association in 1966. Juel was also president of the Texas Association of College Teachers and Chairman of the TEA Committee to Produce Health Education Curriculum Guides for Grades K-12.

Juel received the first Walter Ricther Humanitarian Award in 1990. The university formally designated him as Distinguished Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Emeritus in 1997.  In 2002, Dr. Juel was awarded the title of Dean of Students Emeritus for his "many years of dedicated guidance and leadership of the student body as Dean of Students."

Texas 150 Oral History

Dr. Juel discusses the similarities and differences of the Texas State campus, the student body, and the curriculum over his thirty-one years at the university. He shares the different responsibilities he had as the school's health coordinator, dean of students, professor in the education department, and essentially disciplinarian from the 1950s through the 1980s. Juel mentions the San Marcos Ten, certain recollections of disciplinary problems, changing campus extracurricular activities, and the declining quality of education and teachers over time.