James Ralph Scales

Class of
1983
James Ralph Scales

James Ralph Scales

“His contributions as a scholar, a professor, and as a university president have distinguished him for many years…[he is] a model citizen in a confused world.”
Reverend Gene Garrison

Biography

Oklahoma native James Ralph Scales received degrees from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and the University of Oklahoma, and served in World War II before returning to his alma mater as Dean of Men and a history and government professor. He later became the school’s vice president and, in 1961, became OBU’s ninth president. He served in the post until 1965 when he moved to Oklahoma State University as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of political science. While serving at OSU, he established the literary quarterly, Cimarron Review. He then served as president of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1967 to 1983.

Fun fact

James Scales partnered with Danney Goble in co-authoring Oklahoma Politics: A History in 1982.

Oklahoma connections

Scales was born in Jay, Oklahoma.

Hometown

Jay

Profession

Educator

Born

1919

Died

1996
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