Francois Archibald Gilfillan
Acting President, 1941-1942
F.A. Gillfillan, ca.
1941.
[OSU Archives P84:111]
F.A. Gilfillan was officially appointed as Acting President of
Oregon State College in September 1941 after the resignation of
President Ballard. However he had been serving as chair of the
Administrative Council and carrying out the president's campus
duties since October 1940. He lead the University through the
uncertain months of the beginning of World War II until A.L.
Strand's arrival in October 1942.
A native of Oklahoma, Gilfillan earned a B.S. degree in Pharmacy
from Oregon Agricultural College in 1918. After serving in the
Army chemical warfare department, he attended Yale University and
earned a doctoral degree in chemistry.
Gilfillan's career at Oregon State University spanned over 60 years
as a student (B.S. Pharmacy, 1918), Professor of Chemistry (1927-
1939), and Dean of Science (1939-1962).
He retired as Dean of Science in 1962, but continued his close ties
with Oregon State University by teaching German for six years and
remained in Corvallis until his death in 1983.
Dean Gilfillan, 1956. Gilfillan receives a
demonstration of the College's electron microscope. Dean of
Science for more than 20 years, Gilfillan was known to everyone as
"Dean Gilfillan."
[OSU Archives P82:92 neg. 2173]
"The man closest to a true classical scholar of
anyone at Oregon State", ca. 1960. Besides his professional
contributions in pharmacy and chemistry, Dean Gilfillan could speak
German, Russian, French, Italian and Chinook, translate Latin,
Greek, Chinese, and inscriptions on clay tablets, and collected
rare books and antique silver.
[OSU Archives
#234]
Where to Find More Information about F.A. Gilfillan
President's Office Records
(RG 13)
College of Science Records
(RG 24)
Chemistry Department
Records (RG 98)
Science Research
Institute Records (RG 14)
F.A. Gilfillan Papers
Oral History
Collection
OSU Chronological History for the
1940s
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