Nancy Norris

HonoreeBorn November 2, 1930 in Richmond, Missouri to Floyd and Gladys Norris, Dr. Norris grew up in Richmond and then attended Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri. The Korean War interrupted his education, and he entered the Air Force where he served four years. He was accepted into the Air Force Cadet School but was forced to leave because of hearing loss. He spent the balance of his service working in intelligence, participating in the testing of the hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands. Immediately upon leaving the Air Force, Jim enrolled at the University of Missouri at Columbia where he arrived at his first class still wearing his military fatigues. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education in 1956, a master of arts degree in 1958 and a Ph.D. in history in 1961.Dr. Norris accepted a position of associate professor of history at Hiram College for four years and in 1965, was a visiting associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then moved to the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 1966, becoming chairman of the history department in 1970. Dr. Norris served the University of Missouri system on the intercampus faculty council. In 1972, Dr. Norris was awarded a Federal Fulbright Senior Lectureship to lecture at the University of Ghana, Legion in West Africa.As a historian, Dr. Norris taught American history, but specialized in frontier and business history, the field in which he researched and published seven books: Frontier Iron: The Meramec Iron Work 1826-1876; A History of the American Zinc Company; Politics and Patronage in the Gilded Age: The James A. Garfield-Charles Heary Correspondence; R.G. Dun & Co 1841-1900: The Development of Credit-reporting in Nineteenth Century America; Advertising and the Transformation of the American Economy. 1865-1920; Building a Tradition of Excellence: The History of Ideal Industries, Inc., 1916-1996; and The James Foundation in Missouri 1941-1991. He also authored countless articles during his career.In 1979, Dr. Norris and his family moved to DeKalb so that he could serve as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Northern Illinois University. His distinguished service to NIU and to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 2000 included the creation of several new academic units such as the Department of Computer Science, the Women’s Studies program, the Division of Statistics, and the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault. He championed new doctoral programs in biological, mathematical, and geological sciences, always with an eye toward enhancing NIU’s reputation as a comprehensive teaching and research university. Dean Norris’ leadership ability and integrity led his colleagues to select him to serve as executive secretary of the University Council and then as president of the Faculty Senate. In 2011, he was a recipient of a Distinguished Faculty Award in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Above all else, Dr. Norris was a devoted faculty member.That perspective guided all of his decisions, informed his leadership style and earned him the reputation as a fair, collegial, and transparent administrator and colleague.