Shideler was born in Girard, Kansas, in 1904. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kansas State College in 1927 and an MA in education from Oregon State College in 1941. In 1929, he began his career at OSU, one that spanned 41 years, as a journalism instructor and an assistant in the OSC News Bureau.
Shideler was promoted to assistant professor and journalism department head in 1932; to associate professor in 1939; and to professor in 1944. From January through March 1944 he worked in the Office of War Information in Washington, D.C., and from April 1944 through September 1945 he was the information assistant for the OSC Extension Service's Emergency Farm Labor Service. During that time he took over 200 photographs of the farm labor program's activities throughout the state. He returned to teaching journalism in the fall of 1945.
In 1952 he became head of information services; in 1967 he was appointed director of university relations. Shideler also served as administrative assistant to Oregon governors Paul L. Patterson and Elmo Smith in 1956. Shideler retired from OSU in 1970. He died in Corvallis on May 11, 1993.
From the guide to the Fred M. Shideler Papers, 1940-1983, (Oregon State University University Archives)
