STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State University President Dr. James Hurley received the Congressional Patriot Award in a surprise announcement this past Saturday evening at the 2024 Gala. Congressional Patriot Awards …
For most of a century Tarleton State University’s Trogdon House has been a hub of activity and tradition in Stephenville.
The two-story building, a stately 4,500 square feet, sits at the heart of the campus, between the O.A Grant Building, the E.J. Howell Education Building and the Dick Smith Library.
Built in 1923, it has housed university presidents starting with its builder and architect, Dean J. Thomas Davis, who shared the dwelling with his family until he turned over the reins of power in 1948.
Construction was overseen by Davis and involved primarily student labor, which kept costs low — about $8,000. Students and local workers were paid from 25 to 62 1/2 cents per hour.
A local newspaper announcing the project described the structure.
“Besides the student labor, whereby many boys have earned enough to place them in school for the coming term, many local men have been used. The material for the dean’s home has, to a large extent been native stone. This, of course will be stuccoed and plastered, but will in the end be a very substantial building and help materially the appearance of the campus.”
The house features two full stories and an attic with 18-inch exterior walls built up with several layers of concrete plaster.
Dean E.J. Howell and his family moved into the house in 1948 and over the years added a garage, a breezeway, a screened porch and central heating and air. The home’s namesake, Dr. W.O. Trogdon, came to Tarleton in 1966 for a 16-year stay.
Soon after the Trogdons left, a university master plan stipulated the historic structure be torn down, or at least relocated.
Tarleton’s student government, university alumni and the Erath County Historical Society intervened and gained Historical Landmark status for the aging building, giving it new life.
Saved from demolition, the structure was renovated in 1995, and in 1999 The Texas A&M University System approved the name Trogdon House in recognition of the last family to occupy it.
Once named the Hall of Presidents, the Trogdon House has been home to various administrative offices, including Student Services, University News Service, the Alumni Association, the Office of Development and the Tarleton Foundation, Inc.
In 2009 more than $760,000 in upgrades made the house ready to again serve its original purpose, and Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio and his family returned the president’s residence to campus.
A driving force behind the restoration was legendary alumnus Col. Will Tate, Class of 1935.
“The Trogdon House is somewhat of a spiritual place,” he said during the 2009 remodeling. “It links the past of Tarleton with its future, and I was honored to play a role in the preservation of this wonderful place.”
Now home to the family of President James Hurley, Trogdon House hosts campus and community functions.
Tarleton State University’s 16th First Lady, Kindall Hurley, takes an active role in supporting her husband’s vision to see the school become the premier comprehensive regional institution in the nation. She is an enthusiastic Tarleton ambassador, whether hosting activities at the Hurley home — the Trogdon House in the heart of the Stephenville campus — attending community and university events, or raising funds for the Tarleton Forever Capital Campaign.
A champion for education, Mrs. Hurley is passionate about students and their success and well-being. She earned her MBA at the University of Tennessee, and she completed a master’s in educational leadership and a specialist degree in educational administration at Lincoln Memorial University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from East Tennessee State University.
Her professional career involved elementary education and pediatric healthcare. She has served on numerous boards for educational, community health, health advocacy and nonprofit organizations.
Today Mrs. Hurley devotes her time to caring for her family — her husband, Tarleton President James Hurley, and children Drew, Carter, Blayklee and Brooklyn — and diligently serving as Tarleton’s First Lady. Faith is important to her, and she enjoys spending time with Tarleton's students, faculty, staff, alumni and the Texan community.
Dr. James Hurley was unanimously appointed the 16th President of Tarleton State University in August 2019 by The Texas A&M System Board of Regents. Since his arrival, Tarleton State has become one of the country’s fastest growing comprehensive public universities with an impressive 25% increase in enrollment growth. The university has set new records in student success, fundraising, research expenditures, state support and national prominence.
Under Dr. Hurley’s leadership, the university created and implemented Tarleton Forward 2030: Our Future-Focused Strategic Plan, a blueprint for becoming the premier comprehensive public university in the nation. During his time, Tarleton State has elevated its profile in academics, research, enrollment, retention rates, graduation rates, fundraising, athletics and regional engagement. Money magazine named Tarleton one of the “Best Colleges in America” for 2024.
His ability to maximize revenue and resource generation efforts have served as a force-multiplier for the university’s momentum. This includes a 46% increase in state appropriations over the last two legislative bienniums, increased formula funding from record enrollment growth, innovative student funding models, accelerated degree completion, improved operational efficiency, and record fundraising. Dr. Hurley launched the largest comprehensive capital campaign in Tarleton State’s history. The university shattered a $100 million goal in 2022, two years ahead of schedule, raising nearly $150 million to commemorate its 125th anniversary.
Dr. Hurley’s efforts to advance research and innovation endeavors have increased research expenditures by 67%, helping earn Tarleton State the elevated designation of Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This puts the university among only 133 across the country designated as high research institutions. He established and secured funding to launch multiple major research initiatives, including the President’s Excellence in Research Scholars (PERS) and the Institute for Rural Economic Development and Research. Tarleton State now operates as an EDA University Center, the only one in the region and one of just 73 nationwide. To bring new collaboration and more research dollars to the state, a state-of-the-art Research and Economic Development Building was recently opened in 2024.
With impressive growth in the student population, the university has continued to build and enhance its infrastructure under Dr. Hurley. At the start of 2024, Tarleton State broke ground on an $80 million Health Professions Building to help meet the need for healthcare professionals. A $110 million Event Center is also under construction, with the venue set to host NCAA Division I basketball and provide room for academic convocations, symposiums, conferences and conventions. In total, Tarleton State has over $500 million in active construction and design.
In 2024, Dr. Hurley received the prestigious United States Congressional Patriot Award from Congressman Pat Fallon for his positive contributions to society through higher educational leadership. In 2023, Fort Worth, Inc. Magazine honored him as one of the 400 most influential North Texans. In 2022, the North Texas Commission honored him with its distinguished Education Leadership Award, recognizing his lasting impact on the region.
An invitation in 2022 to join the impactful Association of Public & Land-grant Universities reflects Dr. Hurley’s commitment to groundbreaking discovery, educational access and student success. APLU membership underscores Tarleton State’s place among the top academic institutions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
President Hurley’s cultivation of broad and deep connections has resulted in a student body featuring 230-plus Texas counties, 48 states and 48 countries represented. Collaborations with regional Distinguished High School Partners and two-year Distinguished College Partners strengthen the university's commitment to educational attainment and affordability, offering guaranteed scholarships for qualified students. Additionally, the recently launched Tarleton Today is a dual-enrollment program allowing potential students to earn college credit while in high school with more than 2,500 participants.
Additionally, his Tarleton Promise scholarship provides tuition, fees, room and board, and books to students who exhaust federal and state financial aid. He spearheads efforts to address the state’s growing educational and workforce needs by serving on several governing boards pertaining to higher education affordability, economic development and public policy.
He currently serves on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board of Trustees, which is the accrediting body for degree-granting higher education institutions in the southern United States, as Treasurer of the Council of Public University Presidents and Chancellors (CPUPC), Chair of the WAC Board of Presidents, and on the North Texas Commission Executive Board of Directors.
In 2019, he advanced Tarleton State to NCAA Division I status in the Western Athletic Conference. He was instrumental in the league’s expansion and in bringing championship football back to the WAC. Academically during the four-year reclassification period, the Texans set records in the NCAA Academic Progress Rate for a reclassifying institution, highlighted by posting a 990 (out of 1,000) in the first year. Competitively, the Texans have excelled on a national level, capturing multiple regular season and postseason championships.
A nationally recognized innovator and academic leader, Dr. Hurley has a lifetime of service as Instructor, Professor, Dean and Vice President. Prior to Tarleton, he served as President of Tusculum University. Under his leadership, TU added its University Health Center, College of Health Sciences and Niswonger College of Optometry.
Dr. Hurley is a first-generation college graduate, the grandson of coal miners and a son to parents who taught him that education holds the key to a brighter future. This is the very motivation behind his lifelong advocacy in promoting higher education opportunity and supporting access for all students.
He holds a doctorate from Morehead State University, a master’s degree from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pikeville. He completed the Institute for Presidential Leadership at Harvard University and received a certificate of higher education management from Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Hurley and his wife, Kindall, are the proud parents of sons Drew and Carter and daughters Blayklee and Brooklyn.
