James F. Nickerson earned his bachelors of science in education in 1932 from Nebraska Weslyan University. In 1940 he earned his masters of arts degree in music education from Columbia University Teacher’s College, and in 1964 he earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota.

Throughout his higher education, Nickerson taught high school and college music. In 1946, he joined the faculty of the University of Kansas, where he taught until 1953 when he moved to San Diego, California to conduct research in sound and communication for the Naval Electronics Laboratory and serve as a visiting professor at San Diego State University.

Later that year, Dr. Nickerson became the Bozeman Dean of Education, director of summer session and chair of the Department of Psychology at Montana State University. Ten years later, in 1964, he was named academic vice president at North Dakota State University.

In 1966, Dr. Nickerson was named president of Mankato State College. Under his leadership, the College reached a record enrollment of 14,000 students; sixth-year programs were authorized; the first specialist degrees were awarded; and Trafton Science Center and an addition to the Centennial Student Union were completed on the upper campus. He was later named a Distinguished Professor within the Minnesota State College System. Dr. Nickerson resigned his presidency in 1973. That same year, he was asked by the pentagon to establish the four-year Servicemen’s Opportunity Colleges consortium. After two months in Washington, D.C. as interim director, he accepted the permanent directorship and remained in that position until 1982 when he began to accept various contracts by the Department of Defense to evaluate higher education opportunities for military personnel. Under his leadership, the SOC affected major policy changes on college campuses throughout the nation to better accommodate service members. During his time in Washington, Dr. Nickerson sang with the Washington, D.C. Chorale Arts Society under various directors including Dimitri Rostropovich, Robert Shaw, and Leonard Bernstein.

In 1981, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for outstanding public service in recognition of the SOC’s accomplishments. In the same year, the American Associate of State Colleges and /universities established the James F. Nickerson Medal of Merit, which is awarded periodically to public leaders, educators and representatives of

the armed services who have contributed significantly to advancing the national interest through advocacy of and dedication to the expansion of voluntary education opportunities

for military personnel.

Biography from Out of Chaos: Reflections of a University President and His Contemporaries on Vietnam-Era Unrest in Mankato and Its Relevance Today by James F. Nickerson

Dr. Nickerson passed away in Mankato, Minnesota on March 6, 2009 at the age of 98.

Minnesota State University Mankato, http://www.mnsu.edu/news/read/?id=1236383555&paper=topstories