Deans and Faculty

Dean Thomas Nelson, 1925-1943

An internationally-known textile technologist and educator, Thomas Nelson, the Textile School's first Dean, oversaw the development of the program from a "two -machine basement affair" to one of the largest textile schools in the nation. He was born in Preston, England in 1872 and was awarded a certificate for weaving and designing in 1891 by the City and Guilds of London. He came to the United States and worked in fancy mills in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. After a stint teaching at the Lowell Textile Institute in Lowell, Massachusetts, Nelson joined the faculty in 1901. When Henry M. Wilson, then-head of the textiles department resigned in 1906, Nelson became professor of textiles and head of the textile department. In 1908, Dr. Nelson helped organize the Southern Textile Association. In 1925 he was named dean of the newly-created textile school. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from North Carolina State College in 1926. He retired as Dean in 1943, the same year he was elected first president of the newly-formed National Council of Textile Deans in 1943. Dean Nelson continued to serve on the textile faculty as professor until 1949. He died in Raleigh in 1953. In 1954, the School of Textiles Building was formally named Nelson Hall in his honor.

Dean Malcolm Eugene Campbell, 1943-1967

Dr. Shinn with Dean Campbell

Left to Right: Dame Scott Hamby, Ken Campbell, Jack Bogdan, E. B. Grover, H. A. Rutherford, and Dean Malcolm Campbell.

Dean Nelson's successor as Dean, Malcolm Eugene "Sandy" Campbell, improved the school's educational program and expanded textile research. Born in 1902 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, he graduated from New Bedford Institute of Technology in 1922 and received his B.S. from Clemson College in 1930. In 1958 Clemson awarded him an honorary doctorate. He received three other honorary doctorates from New Bedford Institute of Technology (1956), Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (1957), and National University of Engineering in Peru (1959). From 1923 to 1926 he taught textile engineering at Clemson, leaving to engage in cotton quality research for the US Department of Agriculture for 17 years. In 1943 he became research manager for the Textile Research Institute in New York, but was there for only five months when he accepted the Dean position at State College in 1943. In 1954, Dr. Campbell directed the development of an artificial, knitted artery, invented by Professor William E. Shinn, that later helped save his life after he suffered an aneurysm in 1970. Dr. Campbell retired from NC State in 1967 and subsequently served on the Board of Directors of the Roberts International Corporation, based in Italy. He traveled extensively--often under the auspices of the US government--throughout the world studying and advising on cotton and textile production. He died in 1978.

Dean David Webb Chaney, 1967-1981

Left to Right: Dean David Chaney; Dr. Charles Goldthwait, who continued to conduct research at the age of 82; and Former Governor Hodges.

David Webb Chaney became Dean of the School of Textiles upon Dean Campbell's retirement in 1967. Born in Cleveland, OH in 1915, he received an A.B. in chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1938 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942. From 1943 to 1951 he worked for American Viscose Corporation, and in 1951 he transferred to Chemstrand Research Center. By 1960 he had been elected vice president at Chemstrand. He was a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on the State Technical Services Act, the Governor's Council for Economic Development, and the NC Engineering Foundation.

Dean Dame Scott Hamby, 1981-1987

As Dean of NC State's School of Textiles, Dame Scott Hamby increased private financial support, reorganized the curriculum, and forged closer links between the textile industry and the university. A native of Macon, GA, he began his textile career sweeping floors part time for a Goodyear cotton fiber plant in Georgia. He received a B.S. in textile engineering in 1936 from Auburn University and began work in 1937 at B.F. Goodrich Company in Akron as a textile engineer. In 1943 he moved to the Celanese Corporation of America and returned to B.F. Goodrich in 1947. He received an honorary doctorate from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (now Philadelphia University) in 1984. He joined the NC State faculty as a professor in 1948 and in 1956 was named Burlington Industries professor and supervisor of the Quality Control Division in the School of Textiles. In 1965, he was appointed head of the department of textile technology and in 1972, director of textiles extension and continuing education. After retiring from NC State in 1987, he continued his involvement with textiles, working with Hamby Textile Research Laboratories and as part-time director of the NC Textile Foundation, a private foundation that supports NC State's school.

Dean Robert A. Barnhardt, 1987 to 1999

The fifth dean, Dr. Robert A. Barnhardt succeeded Dean Hamby in 1987. Before coming to NC State Dean Barnhardt was the executive vice president of the Institute of Textile Technology (ITT), where he was hired in 1966 as dean and director of education. Before joining ITT, Barnhardt was chairman of the Department of Textiles at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (PCTS). Dr. Barnhardt is active in professional organization including serving as an invited member from the United States of the Groupe Européen d'éxchange d'expériences sur la Direction de la Recherch Textile (GEDRT) and a fellow and medal awardee of the Textile Institute in the United Kingdom. He received a B.S. from PCTS in 1961. At the University of Virginia he earned a master of education degree in 1970, and a doctorate in higher education administration in 1974.

Dean A. Blanton Godfrey, 2000 to present

Dr. Godfrey was the chairman and CEO of Juran Institute, Inc. before his appointment as Dean of the College of Textiles at NC State University. He was an adjunct professor at NC State from 1995 to 2000. Prior to is work at Juran Godfrey worked in quality assessment and management at AT&T Bell Laboratories and taught and lectured at universities such as Harvard and Columbia. Godfrey received his bachelor's degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1963, a master's degree in statistics in 1970, and a Ph.D. in statistics in 1974 from Florida State University. Godfrey is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the World Academy of Productivity Sciences.