Whaley, W. Gordon (William Gordon), 1914-1982

Epithet: Colonel

William Gordon Whaley (1914-1982), botanist and admistrator at the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as botany professor (1946-1982) and department chairman (1948-1962); Director of the Plant (later Cell) Research Institute (1947-1979); Dean of the Graduate School (1957-1972); Ashbel Smith Professor of Cellular Biology (1972-1982). Born in New York City, W. Gordon Whaley studied at the University of Massachusetts (B.S.,1936) and Columbia University (PhD, 1939). As the first chairman of UT's Botany Department, Whaley lay the foundation for a distiguished program. Trained as a geneticist, he pioneered the research of plant cell structures, particularly the golgi apparatus. Whaley joined the UT graduate school as Associate Dean in 1954. During his term as Dean (1957-1972), UT's graduate school enrollment nearly doubled. Whaley was active in national and regional organizations relating to graduate education and science. He helped found the Council of Graduate Schools and created and edited the UT Graduate Journal (published 1958-1976). In 1938, Whaley married Clare Youngren, with whom he had a daughter, Patricia Anne (Hardesty). He died in December 1982.

William Gordon Whaley (1914-1982), botanist, academic administrator. Born in New York City, W. Gordon Whaley earned degrees from the University of Massachusetts (B.S., 1936) and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1939). From 1939-1945, he taught at Barnard College and Columbia, and served as Senior Geneticist in the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In 1946, the University of Texas at Austin hired him as an Associate Professor of Botany in its Department of Botany and Bacteriology. Whaley was chosen as the first Chairman when an independent Department of Botany was created in 1949. He led the department until 1962, by which time it had earned national distinction. He directed UT's Cell Research Institute (originally Plant Research Institute) from 1948-1979. In 1972, UT named him Ashbel Smith Professor of Cellular Biology.

Trained as a geneticist and an early user of electron microscopy, Whaley published a number of books for scholars, students, and a popular audience. He taught, lectured, and attended conferences internationally, and earned a Fullbright-Hayes Award to serve as Visiting Professor at the University of Leningrad [St. Petersburg, Russia] in 1978. The Botanical Society of America honored him with its Merit Award in 1978 "in recognition of his early contributions to genetics and morphogenesis and of his pioneering role in elucidating the cellular biology of plants, with special reference to the Golgi apparatus." Whaley and his students demonstrated the existence of that cell organelle in plants.

Whaley joined the UT Graduate School as Associate Dean in 1954. He served as Dean from 1957 until 1972, during which time UT's graduate student enrollment more than doubled. Whaley was active in national and regional organizations relating to graduate education and science. He helped to found the Council of Graduate Schools. Whaley lectured and consulted throughout the U.S. on graduate education, and created and edited a forum on the topic, The Graduate Journal (published 1959-1976 by the University of Texas Press). He received a Distinguished Service Award from the UT System and Board of Regents when he stepped down as dean in 1972, "for outstanding leadership and the national distinction achieved at the University of Texas Graduate School during his fifteen years as Graduate Dean."

In 1938, Whaley married Clare Youngren, with whom he had a daughter, Patricia Anne (Hardesty). He died in December 1982.