Charles Kegel Memorial Scholaship

Dr. Charles Kegel – Acting President of Idaho State University 1975 – 1976

Born August 16, 1924, in Chicago, he held degrees of B.A. from Alma College, M.A. from Northwestern University and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He also attended Princeton University and the University of Louisville.
Dr. Charles H. Kegel was a professor in the Department of Communication Skills at Michigan State University and in the Department of English at Idaho State University.

Dr. Kegel served Idaho State University with honor and distinction for a full quarter–century, earning at one time or another nearly every academic and administrative rank and distinction that the university could bestow.
A pure academician always, he strove to maintain the liberal arts tradition and high standards of academic excellence even as his own career moved from the classroom he loved to more and more administrative duties.
Dr. Kegel came to Idaho State (then Idaho State College) in 1956 as an assistant professor of English with a specialty in Icelandic saga literature. He worked up through the academic ranks to full professor, headed the Division of Languages, Literature and Philosophy and served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and dean of faculties. During this time he also served as vice chair of the Idaho Commission on Arts and Humanities. Dr. Kegel had been academic Vice President since 1968. He served as ISU’s acting president from July 1975, through August, 1976.
A former vice chairmen of the Idaho Commission on Arts and Humanities, Dr. Kegel was the author of three academic textbooks and a translation from Norwegian of a volume entitled Out Fishing with Hemingway. He also wrote nearly 30 articles for scholarly and professional journals.
Before his retirement from ISU in 1981, the Liberal Arts Building on campus was renamed in his honor. After his death in April 1981, part of his estate established the endowment funding your scholarship.