Harrelson was born in 1885 in Cleveland County, North Carolina. He attended North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and graduated in 1909 with a B.A. in engineering. He earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the college in 1915.
In 1909 Harrelson became an instructor of mathematics in the college, and he later became a professor. In 1929 he accepted an invitation by Governor O. Max Gardner to head the State Department of Conservation and Development, where he served for the next four years. In 1933 he returned to his alma mater as head of the Department of Mathematics.
In 1934 in the aftermath of the consolidation of North Carolina’s institutions of higher education and the retirement of NC State’s President Eugene Clyde Brooks, Harrelson was selected to head State College under the new title of dean of administration. He was the first alumnus to lead the college. His title was changed to chancellor in 1945, and he served in that position until 1953. After World War II ended in 1945, the college saw extraordinary growth, and during Harrelson’s chancellorship the School of Design and the School of Forestry were established. Harrelson died in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1955.
Portrait
of John William Harrelson